JESUS & OUR HOLY WEEK

Only one of 52 weeks each year is named HOLY WEEK! That week is TIME favored with holiness and grace because of the presence of the HOLY ONE, Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Holy Week is the centerpiece of the entire Church Year. From Palm Sunday to the Sacred Triduum (three days) of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil to Easter, we remember and celebrate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

Holy Week is like a HUB or AXIS. Every event and teaching of Jesus and Christians we celebrate in the Church Year relate to Holy Week.

Advent at the start of a Church Year and Christ the King at its close and all the Christ-events in between are like spokes linked to the hub of a wheel. Each important event finds its ultimate meaning and fulfillment in the Paschal Mystery of Holy Week - the DYING and RISING of Jesus.

Each Holy Week of our lives connects us with the roots and origins of our identity, life and destiny as Christians - which is a person - the LORD JESUS! With great need we humbly encounter Jesus again each year.

His mercy and forgiveness continue to liberate us from sin and death and enable us to rise with Him to new Easter life now and forever.

Every Holy Week is a continuation for us, with us and in us of the week of Jesus, Death and Resurrection. That first week was the focal point; the summit and very heart of the saving mission of the New Adam, Jesus Christ. His victory over sin and death and resurrection from the dead frees children of the Old Adam from sin and death and opens the way to new and eternal life.

Remembering past historical events and people of the past is essential to any celebration like Memorial Day, Independence Day or President's Day and much more. It is also important for Holy Week, Christmas, Lent, etc. But there must be more. We do not just remember the past. We believe that the Spirit of the Lord is present in Word and Sacrament and brings about in us what we celebrate.

Our remembering alone does not save us, but the one we remember does save us if we are open to his presence. St. Augustine (+430) said: "God does not save us, without us". We must consent. How is this possible? How do we enter into these Christ events? How does what happened in Jesus happen in us?

Can the Christ-events of two millennium ago be contemporary to us and continue year after year? YES! Jesus instituted, set in motion and maintains his salvation of mankind accomplished in that first Holy Week. Since then that salvation continues for humanity in commemoration and celebration until his return in glory.

On Holy Thursday we celebrate the anniversary of the institution of the Eucharist. It is also the anniversary of the priesthood. These two sacraments are inseparable. There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood of Jesus that continues in his priests. The priesthood exists to make the Eucharist.

The Chrism Mass and the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper celebrate Jesus' will to be present to us in his Passion, Death and Resurrection. Jesus' institution of the Eucharist is described by St. Paul in the Letter to the first generation of Christians in Corinth. He wrote this about 20 years after the Last Supper. The Gospels were not yet written. The way Jesus wills to be present among us and bring about all we remember about him is clear in his own words. We hear these words in every Eucharist - "This is my body which will be given up for you". "This is my blood which will be shed for you".

Christ's command "Do this in memory of me" continues his saving presence among us and for us until his Second Coming in Glory. His command links Eucharist and priesthood. At every mas, the command of Christ is once more fulfilled.

The earlier Mass on Holy Thursday is the Chrism Mass. 'Chrism' is Greek for 'anointing'. The oil called 'Chrism' is a symbol of Christ who is the anointed one. The name Christ comes from Chrism. That Mass is celebrated with the priest's of our diocese and the faithful. All have been anointed with the Holy Chrism in Baptism and Confirmation. Priests are further anointed with Chrism in Holy Orders.

The Bishop consecrates the Chrism for use in Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders everywhere in the diocese. He also blesses the Oil of Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick.

The 'Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service' is made during the Chrism Mass. Bishops and priests renew their Ordination Promises before Christ and his people whom they are to serve. Here is the 'heart' of each of three questions added by the Bishop:

Are you resolved -

1. To united yourself more closely to Christ and try to become more like Him?

2. To be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God by celebrating the Eucharist and other liturgical services with sincere devotion?

3. To invite Jesus, the head and shepherd of the Church by teaching the Christian faith solely for the well being of the people you were sent to serve?

During the Washing of the Feet, Jesus reveals his own heart and the heart of his Church - "I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you". Christ's loving service even unto death - total gift - calls the Church - all of us to ever deeper loving service - as the body given up and the blood poured out.

A new way of loving, giving and serving; a new way to be family, community, Church. A new way to be a spouse, parent, son or daughter, priest, deacon, religious seminarian, single person. A new way to live Jesus' love for all.