Reverence and hope lead us to God's love this Holy Week and every week
by Sisters Jane Riha
We begin Holy Week with the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. This entire week is designated “holy”. As we journey to the final days of the week called the Triduum, we are called to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery. During the coming days, we will hear powerful Scriptures that lead us to an understanding of a God of great love, forgiveness and mercy. At the beginning of Mass, from the Gospel of Luke we will hear what is often termed the “triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.” Jesus does not appear triumphal but rather humble and unassuming riding on a small donkey. What did Jesus see from that vantage point? Some in the crowd knew Jesus and to others he was a total stranger. Jesus knew where this brief acclaim would lead eventually.
The Reading of the Lord’s Passion completes the Liturgy of the Word impressing upon us that such great love led to such great suffering. A famous poet, John O’Donohue, has a poem called “The Eyes of Jesus.” The poem attempts to share what Jesus’s eyes perceived and revealed. If we enter into the Scripture passages for Palm Sunday attempting to see and hear with the “eye of the heart” and place ourselves there, we will no doubt receive both blessings and surprises.
Holy Week is not just a time to recall events but a call to enter into them and see the life, death, and rising of Jesus Christ in our modern day. We encounter this week the Suffering Servant, referred to in the book of Isaiah. Those passages are read during the Masses leading up to Holy Thursday. Applying our reflections to our daily lives and encounters with others, may lead us to see in a new way, the presence of the Lord among us.
Thank your reflection that provides an overall spirit for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Thank you for the perspective of Palm Sunday from what Jesus sees and from "The Eyes of Jesus". We too can see and hear the Holy Week readings with the "eye of the heart".