THE Holy Week is, of course, not just like any other
week. It is THE week, the mother of all weeks, the
most important week in the liturgical year, when we
end the long penitential preparation of Lent and
celebrate nothing less than the climax of Christ’s
redemptive work with his passion, death and
resurrection.
When we say
“celebrate,” we are referring
to a liturgical celebration
where the events celebrated
are not simply remembered,
but are actually made
present. This is the essence
of liturgy, as taught by the
Church that in turn received
this truth from Chris t
himself.
In the liturgy, we
become contemporaries of
Christ and direct
witnesses of the events.
That’s how the reality
portrayed by our faith is.
It is a reality that, of
course, goes far beyond
what our senses can
capture and what our
intelligence can grasp. That is
why we have to work out our
faith. Otherwise, we would be
hanging in the air.
It is this passion, death
and resurrection of Christ, also
known as the Paschal or Easter
mys tery, that summarizes
everything that our Lord taught
and did for the sole purpose of
saving us, and giving us a way
to reconcile ourselves with our
Creator and Father, the way to
say yes to God’s will for us.
It is in Christ’s passion
and death that all the sins of
men, past, present and future,
are assumed by Christ
himself, dying to them so that
all these sins would be dashed
to nothing, and then resurrect.
What we are invited to
do is to somehow share in
Christ’s passion and death, so
that dying with him, we too
can resurrect with him. Christ
takes up what is ours so that
we can take up what is his. A
liturgical hymn describes this
as a “happy exchange.” There
is no sin too big or grave
enough that cannot be part of
Christ’s passion and death.
The only sin that can elude
this universal mercy of God is
the sin against the Holy Spirit,
when we precisely reject this
truth of God’s omnipotent
mercy.
Now all these events
of the passion, death and
resurrection of Christ is made
into the sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, instituted at the Last
Supper of the first Holy
Thursday. It is this sacrament
that makes present these
saving events of the paschal
mystery. These events are not
simply recalled and dramatized
by some ceremony. They
derive their vital and perpetual
character from our Lord’s words,
“Do this in remembrance of
me” (or “in memory of me”).
THE Holy Week is, of course, not just like any other
week. It is THE week, the mother of all weeks, the
most important week in the liturgical year, when we
end the long penitential preparation of Lent and
celebrate nothing less than the climax of Christ’s
redemptive work with his passion, death and
resurrection.