(The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on Passion (Palm) Sunday at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington on March 20.)
Today, we begin our journey through Holy Week, which encompasses the last days of Lent and the Easter Triduum. Why do we call this time “Holy Week”? Because each year during this week we commemorate in a very solemn and focused manner those sacred events that stand at the core of our Christian faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
The latter days of Holy Week constitute the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil along with Easter Sunday. “These days are therefore unique in the liturgical year and their celebration is of utmost importance in the spiritual and pastoral life of the Church” (Ceremonial of Bishops, p. 102). The Easter Triduum is one unified reliving of the Paschal Mystery, that is, of Our Blessed Lord's Suffering, Death and Resurrection, even though we focus on specific aspects on each day: Holy Thursday " on the Lord Jesus' Last Supper, Good Friday " on His life-giving Death on the Cross, and Easter, both Vigil and Sunday, on His glorious Resurrection.
This Week called Holy can also be called the Week of Contrasts. Today, the crowd in Jerusalem shouts joyfully: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” On Friday morning, that same Jerusalem crowd will shout angrily: “Let him be crucified.” The same people who praised Jesus on Sunday will condemn him on Friday. In fact, his own apostles, who accompanied Jesus with delight on Sunday as He entered Jerusalem, will on Thursday night and Friday morning abandon Him, except for John. Judas will betray his Master with a kiss and Peter will deny Him three times: “I do not know the man.”
We are troubled, dismayed, shocked and even angry as we observe this contrast in behavior until we stop and reflect. Are we not sometimes just like them? Every time we sin, are we not saying “no” to the Lord's Will and “yes” to ours? Are we not betraying and denying the very One who has come to save us? Yes, in our lives, we see and experience the contrast that so resembles what we observe in the first followers of Jesus.
However, we must not give up in despair. Admitting the contrast in our lives " our initial obedience followed by disobedience " can stir up in us, through God's grace, true contrition and conversion. Seeing the contrast can lead us to turn back to Christ, Who remains always open to forgive us. It is not too late to come back home to Christ and to His Church!
This willingness to reverse the contrast in our lives, to go from disobedience to obedience, can be tangibly experienced and lived this Holy Week. We must make the most of Holy Week, especially the Easter Triduum. Nothing should be more important than our faith-filled participation in the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, both the Vigil and Sunday. As we relive with Jesus those events by which He won for us freedom from sin and eternal death and the privilege to share His divine life here and forever in heaven, let us turn back to Him with every fiber of our beings and be more closely united with Him in a new life of obedient faith. Doing that will reverse the contrast from denial to acceptance, from “no” to “yes,” from death to life! I close with these words taken from a commentary on Lent: “The journey from self-will to obedience and from superficial recitation of prayers to authentic worship takes more than a week, even if its name is “holy.” But this one week, this Holy Week, makes a great difference if through Christ we offer our very selves to God and through Christ receive a share of life in union with God” (Kevin W. Irwin, Lent: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours, p. 272).
