Early in my priesthood, an older priest told me he pretty much had only one homily that he gave. The topic was the Paschal Mystery – the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Noting that in his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes, “…we proclaim Christ crucified…” (1 Cor 1:23), the priest said that each homily was focused on unfolding and opening that sacred mystery, assisting us to live it more faithfully and productively.
As I reflect on the coming of Holy Week each year, I realize there is always a familiarity about it, as there is throughout Lent. It is a season in which we pray the Stations of the Cross and have more opportunities to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. We commit to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
The continuity of the time from Lent to Easter is especially evident from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. The rituals and traditions are the same, particularly when we celebrate the Sacred Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
While everything might be the same as far as the externals, the internal experience can be very different. When I reflect on my first Holy Week in the diocese in 2018, everything was new for me. I was getting a sense of what had been done in the past and being asked what my preferences were for the present.
There was some anxiety for me about the liturgies being done beautifully. I was getting a feel for a new space and new people. What were their expectations? My experience of that first Holy Week was the uncertainty of having to do everything for the first time as the new bishop of Richmond.
Then, five years ago, Holy Week was stark and challenging, coming three weeks after COVID-19 shut everything down. It was unsettling to see Pope Francis by himself during the Vatican’s Holy Week observances.
That isolation was not unique to our Holy Father, as it was the same at churches throughout the world. With no crowds – we had five people in our Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for these liturgies – “livestreaming” became part of our vernacular and integral to how we marked this important time in our Church.
We spent many of those days and weeks indoors, members of a faith community cut off from one another. Those weeks became months, extending our penitential experience of Lent long past Easter.
By faith and with common sense, we made our path through COVID. No doubt it was a time of uncertainty and disruption. We normally celebrate the Chrism Mass on the Monday of Holy Week, but we postponed it until July that year. At the same time, we marked our diocese’s 200th anniversary and celebrated priesthood ordinations which had been scheduled for June.
The key for us during COVID was we trusted that the Lord had a greater work in mind, knowing that he had something greater for us to learn during that Holy Week. Being distant from each other, particularly during the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum, provided us with a deeper awareness of the gift they are when we gather in community.
Together, we experience the spiritual impact of celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, praying during our Lord’s Passion, and rejoicing as the newly baptized join us at the Easter Vigil.
This Holy Week is not without its concerns and uncertainties. The impact of policy changes regarding migration weighs upon us, especially in the Hispanic community. Worries about the strength and growth of the economy are tangible. Anxiety over job security is prevalent.
The reality of the environment in which we live is that this is a new world, one marked by unexpected twists and turns. This Holy Week can be different for people on a personal level – the first one following the loss of a loved one, or after a birth of a child, or a change in employment.
While each Holy Week has familiar rituals and traditions, each year’s celebration is also a unique personal experience. Yet, it always remains a time for a new beginning, one focused on and guided by the Paschal Mystery. It is a culmination of the renewal we undertook during Lent. The fruit of the Paschal Mystery is what our Lord offers us: the joy of the Good News of his Resurrection and his daily invitation to take up our cross, to follow him, to be with him in his kingdom.
In making our way through Lent, we have had multiple opportunities to grow in our faith, strengthened by the grace we receive in the celebration of Mass and reception of the sacraments. Let that spiritual momentum carry over into and through Holy Week, so that we are open to and willing to embrace the gift of the Paschal Mystery.