We enter into the week called "holy". It is holy because of the events that took place in Jerusalem in this week about 2,000 years ago. It is called holy because it is the high point of the Church's liturgical year, as we celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the impact that it has in our lives. It is called holy because through those mysteries we are invited and empowered to embrace the new life of Christ that leads us into eternity. Happy Holy Week!
We begin the week by recalling how fickle we can be as human beings. One moment we are singing the praises of God and the next we are calling for Him to be gone from us. I personally find it a very disjointed liturgy. The Palm Sunday liturgy describes that experience and those feelings well. We begin by recalling Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We bless palm branches, listen to the account of His entry, and process into the temple of our church for the feast [ by the way, we are NOT good at precessions ]. But how quickly we turn on Him and change our tune. In the Gospel we listen to the Passion of Christ, this year from Matthew. The same people who sang His praises call now for His death. The constant that we have that the inhabitants of Jerusalem did not is the Eucharist, the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ, broken and spilled out for us. In our parish we end the celebration in silence - anticipating the emptiness and quiet of the next few days.
The somber red denoting blood is the color of the day ... palm branches and crosses are sacramentals that we take to our homes to remind us of these days ... and anticipation is the emotion we take with us as we bring our Lenten journey to an close and enter the Triduum.
Journey well ... and be patient, the readings and liturgy are a little longer today.
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