Experience Holy Week as Jesus Did

“Truly this was the Son of God”

One would have thought that these words affirming 

Jesus would have come from His family and friends,

or perhaps from some one of the faithful Jews in Jerusalem for the Passover –

someone who knew the Scriptures well and who recognized their fulfillment in Jesus.

No. The one who recognized the meaning of Jesus’ death was a foreigner:

ironically, the centurion who supervised  Jesus’ execution.

True, others kept watch with Him those last hours –

His Mother and the women who had walked with Him.

As for His other close followers, they had abandoned Him.

Here He was, put to death as a common criminal.

What good news is there in this?
The good news is, despite his abandonment, Jesus was faithful.

He trusted that His Father would be with Him to the end, and so, broke the power of sin and betrayal.

Jesus loved those who abandoned Him. “Peace,” he would say to them from beyond death.

No accusation or condemnation. Just  “Peace.”

You and I experience the anguish of Jesus’ last days through the lens of Christ’s Resurrection.

Thank God we do, for otherwise, we might not bear it , as Peter and Judas could not.

We know God raised Him up, as we hear Paul in the letter to the Philippians (2.9)

“and gave Him a name above all other names.”
He is Christ the Lord, the Risen One, and next Sunday, the bright light of Easter will overtake darkness, and we believers will mark new believers with the holy oils and call them by our own name - Christian.

We look backwards on the experience of Jesus. We see its completeness, but we live forward.

In our everyday lives, we share the Holy Week experiences of Jesus,

but maybe we don’t feel the life of His resurrection yet.

We know the fickle plaudits of the crowd.

You and I have been abandoned and betrayed by our friends

 or we have abandoned or betrayed others ourselves.

We are Pilate, Nicodemus, the women along the way.

We are Jesus.

We have been condemned and condemned others. We have helped others to carry their cross

and have been the recipients of the help of others.

We have died big deaths and little deaths.

Will we believe, as Jesus did, that God is faithful?

Somewhere in our past is an old theology which encourages us to heap upon ourselves

guilt for our part in Jesus’ death.

Surely He has taken on Himself, as a humble servant, the sins of us all.

But, more especially, these days, let us think of ourselves as standing in Jesus’ place.

His experience is the experience of all humanity.

 Even as He came through unadorned tragedy to new life, so do we.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Be Moved By Holy Week

 

Dear Friends,

How often on newscasts do we see the report of a procession, parade or march at some place of heroism or death or in some public place as a mark of human solidarity. These masses of  people, moving in an unrehearsed  rhythm  all take place for a reason. They draw attention to an event, celebrate an occasion, demonstrate support for a cause or in allegiance to a person or an ideal. Wherever the Pope travels, masses of people gather. So too,  after  the murders at the Charlie Hebdo office, in Ferguson, and  Staten Island. Last week, cities broke ranks with winter by marching in the Saint Patrick’s Day parade. We marched in Selma 50 years after Bloody Sunday.

The purpose of a parade, procession or march is to persuade the bystander to move in his or her own heart from being a mere onlooker to be touched by what one sees and hears. “Come with us," we plead wordlessly.

Next Sunday we will recall the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – a procession that ultimately leads to the cross. Then, on Holy Thursday, we process with Jesus from the upper room and the last supper to a vigil, where we will wait with him and pray, in remembrance of his own prayer before being arrested. That night, we process with Jesus to his trials. We witness the total self- gift of the One whose love is never ending and whose promise is that we are never alone.

On Good Friday, a cross is carried in procession through our streets and through our churches, a reminder that Jesus carried his own cross to death.  Can there be a more poignant, dramatic or challenging sign of the depth of God’s love?

On Holy Saturday night, at the Easter Vigil, a lighted candle is carried in procession up the same aisle where the day before the cross had been carried. Now the candle proclaims for all to see that God had indeed triumphed over evil. Darkness and death have been destroyed.

To the casual observer, this week makes little sense. Nor will it ever make sense, if we only stand by, watching unmoved. The Liturgies of Holy Week invite us to walk with Jesus during these astounding days when the generosity of God toward us human beings is revealed so dramatically. As we walk with Him and one another, we attempt to understand what Jesus was feeling and thinking during these hours.

To do so is to be caught up in the experience of death on the cross as it becomes a way to life. We can imagine Jesus saying  to us “Wonder with me that what looks like defeat is really victory, and that my horizon, apparently limited like yours, is shattered, once and for all.” And incredibly, the processions, parades and marches of our own life comes into focus. We see the year that’s been, the people who have come and gone, the shape of our lives made more in conformity with that of Jesus, or not. We can’t see any of it without walking alongside Jesus to all those places and experiences which made his death a worthy preparation for His being raised up.

Together, let us step off and be on our way.

~Sister Joan Sobala

PS.   Get yourself ready for Holy week..join us for one of these Fresh Wind Programs!

Monday, March 23   7 to 8:30 pm

Guided by Sister Joan Sobala

Topic: The Passion According to Mark: An evening’s study.

Saturday, March 28   10 to 2:00 pm

Guided by Sister Mary Louise Heffernan

Topic: Living the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday.  Find out how scripture, music, art and poetry can help us prepare for these central days.

Donation:    $35  

Preregistration required. Call Sr. Mary Louise at 585 641.8403

 

Celebrating Saints and How it Can Bolster our Faith

Dear Friends,

Within the next two weeks, we are offered for our friendship and inspiration:  Patrick (March 17), Joseph (March 19) and Oscar Romero (March 24).

Three episodes in Matthew’s Gospel tell the highlights of Joseph’s story at the time of the annunciation, through his travels with Mary and Jesus  to and from Egypt, and with relief at the finding of Jesus in the temple. “ Joseph was led by his dreams. His dreams were not always clear or easy. They eventually changed his heart.” (Sr. Madeleva, csj)  In these three, mind and heart-stretching times, the silent Joseph nonetheless reminds us of his belief, confident that only good would come out of the situations in which he found himself.

As a slave, a priest and a bishop, Patrick suffered all sorts of setbacks. Opposition to Patrick’s efforts were strong. Some believed his education was defective. He was criticized in both England and Ireland  for the way he conducted his mission, and in Ireland itself, he came up against the powerful druid leaders, who had a strong hold on the hearts of the people. Patrick showed the Irish the love of God so that the Gospel  he preached was felt as well as heard.

Finally, we come to Oscar Romero, our contemporary (d. 1980), who will be canonized in May. He is the only martyr in our trilogy of March saints. Oscar Romero, the Bishop of San Salvador was himself converted to speak out on behalf of the poor through the martyrdom of his Jesuit friend, Rutillo Grande. Not long after, Romero was gunned down by a government  marksman while saying Mass.  The motive?  His decree for canonization says Romero was killed because of “hatred  of the faith.”  “As a shepherd,” Romero said, “I am obliged to give my life for those I love, for the entire Salvadoran people, including those Salvadorans who threaten to assassinate me. If they should go so far as to carry out their threats, I want you to know that I now offer my blood to God for justice and the resurrection of El Salvador.”

Joseph, Patrick and Oscar were each confident in his own way that God was faithful and would not abandon them as they came to a new, unexpected moment. They lived their lives grappling with demons that could destroy their faith ,integrity and loved ones. They did not fail. It’s almost as though thy each heard the voice of God saying “Do not be afraid." They were not.  Today we celebrate their undaunted faith, their unflagging belief that God would be their helmsman  and guide.

This dreary cold month, when we want to turn inward instead of outward, let’s walk hand in hand with these three faithful men into our own personal futures where God continues to offer us dreams to guide us, partners to help us make our way and the divine embrace that can be depended upon.

~Sister Joan Sobala

PS. Join us for some Fresh Wind Programs in the next few weeks as well.

Tuesday, March 17: Learn different ways to pray with Sister Mary Louise Heffernan at the SSJ Motherhouse from 10-11:15.  Call Sr. Mary Louise if you plan to come at 641-8403.

Wednesday, March 18: Bishop Matthew Clark joins us at the Motherhouse to talk about the Synod on the Family and how the makeup of contemporary families and the Catholic Church relate. The conversation is at the Motherhouse from 7-8:30pm.  All welcome to both events!