It looks familiar – Holy Week, Easter Triduum, and Easter story. All look familiar – the usual stuff from Palm Sunday to Easter vigil. I am here to discuss the unfamiliar things you missed during the Holy Week. You may find a familiar parallel to your life journey. You will discover hope when things crumble and you are above to be crushed.
I suggest you approach the Holy Week with a sense of wonder and awe rather than seeking explanations for things you cannot comprehend about the Easter story.
What is the Easter Triduum? It is not a pageant or mystery play unfolded over three days. Easter Triduum includes the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There are not three separate services, but they are part of one Easter Triduum service.
Whom can I trust? An Invitation of Maundy Thursday
How does Maundy Thursday make sense in my context? What if I had to tell you it is very much your story? Jesus’ night at the Mount of Olives – a betrayal of friendship? Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus’ trust and hands over Jesus to his executioners. Why it has to be the closest friend that betray?
Whom can I trust? It is a loss of trust in our relationship. The danger is to walk down the path of bitterness. In this immediate context, Jesus offers the greatest advice in history – the commandment of love. Maundy means a mandate. It’s a mandate to love given by Jesus with a unique criterion for love based on the example of his life, suffering and death. In the backdrop of betrayal, Jesus invites you towards communion – a call for faithfulness, truthfulness, and pardon.
How do we make sense of the pain of the people?
There is so much pain in the world – suffering and anguish. Good Friday story invites us to identify the people’s pain with the suffering of Jesus. You have pain in your heart. Life has become silent and sad. There is a cry for hope standing at the foot of the cross. Good Friday is a day of hope, even when you feel life is finished and not worth living.
Why do you need to be comfortable with messiness?
Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday announce that the “new is messy.” We behave in different ways and deal with messiness. Mary of Magdala wants to grip Jesus – a sense of discovering Jesus after the loss. She fails to let go and open herself to the resurrected Jesus on a mission. Impulsive Peter finds the empty tomb and wants to sort things out. People want to sort the mess -quickly without even understanding what they are dealing with. A few people, like the other disciples, also see and believe. These are the eyes of love rather than succumbing to the eyes of bitterness and pessimism. The end is clear – evil will fail. God will triumph. You are invited to approach life with mystery; you don’t need an explanation for everything. Your life is more significant than your health, wealth and skill sets. God’s grace makes things happen in our life – and you are grateful with a new sense of wonder. Easter is an opportunity to display love’s triumph over hatred, and forgiveness eradicates bitterness.
The more unfamiliar stuff about Holy Week
During Covid-19, I started to upload some short, intriguing videos to YouTube. I was experimenting with technology to communicate with people who are locked inside their homes. You can check some of the titles. The topics are for a curious mind.
What is Jesus doing on a Donkey on a Palm Sunday? What did Mary know about the oil? Disciples didn’t. Crow three times. Jesus didn’t mean the bird. Thirty pieces of silver. Why not 20? What’s “New or Old” in the new commandment? A man running naked in the Bible? U-turn after meeting Jesus. Women at the Tomb. Does it matter?
Holy week is always interesting when you visit the Holy Land. I did in 2022. It’s a new light when you are a pilgrim on the holy sites.
Jesus Passion is always different. How can you look at it in an unfamiliar way.
Even now, if you need more interesting information, check everything you need to know about the holy week to participate better.
Last words to ponder on
A week ago, I participated in a webinar on Preaching during the Holy Week and Easter organised by the Catholic Association of Preachers. Some of the webinar thoughts I brought before you, as we are partaking the mystical journey towards Calvary and the joy of the empty tomb.
It was an enriching experience to sit with a group of brother priests ready to prepare their sermons. These days the best sermon is the liturgy- be active and intentional to communicate the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yes, my homilies during days are brief; less said is better. The preparation is to say less and communicate more through the word of God.
Feroz Fernandes, a Catholic Missionary, identifies himself as an Uncommon Priest. Father Feroz loves adventure in the apostolate. Check out his debut book, The Uncommon Priest: Incredible Stories You Never Read. Also, the YouTube Channel Feroz Fernandes promotes a better understanding of scripture.
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I feel that I am blessed to have the passion explained today not like the Apostles who did not understand what was going on with the death of Jesus.
Thanks Bill, Blessings