Great Week of Change
We begin Holy Week. And although it is officially called that, maybe we should call it "Week of Change". Change is perhaps the most characteristic word of this week. Many people changed their views in those short seven days, being able to shout, "Hosanna to the King!" from the same throats in one day, and after only five days shouting: "To the cross with Him! Crucify Him!"
Can it be humanly explained that Peter, the one who confidently says at the Last Supper, Lord, I will lay down my life for you, who takes up the sword in defense of the master in the Garden of Gethsemane— only a few hours after these assurances, he states three times: I don't know this man?
Is it possible to understand the attitude of Judas, who has been so trusted by the Master, and who disposed of all the money of the community of apostles, and who suddenly allows himself to be tempted by a paltry 30 pieces of silver and betrays Jesus?
Is it possible that the apostles, who saw so many miracles of Jesus, suddenly forgot about them in one moment and did not remember about the power of Jesus, which is able to change everything? Can amnesia overwhelm all of Jesus' disciples at once?
And yet it is all true – that is exactly how it was.
A week of changes, a week of difficult experiences, a week in which you can lose hope, but – let's also be honest – a week in which the faith can be found. After all, there were also such people, such as the centurion, who just at the foot of the cross converts and confesses: Truly He was the Son of God. In this Holy Week of change, Jesus will stand before each of us, and it will depend only on us how we look at Him: as a condemned man and a criminal, or as the King of heaven and earth, my Savior?
But are these changes really the most important thing this week, or is it more important what people have done in their lives after these declarations of Holy Week? And we know that they behaved very differently. Take, for example, two great men, two apostles, two men who accompanied Jesus almost always during the last three years of his life. I think of Peter and Judas. Let us be honest and say frankly that both failed, and both denied Jesus. But how different their attitudes were after the fact. One was converted, and as tradition says, for the rest of his life on his cheeks there were deep furrows formed by tears of sorrow, and – despite this denial – the risen Jesus makes him the first pope. Judas, on the other hand, took the worst possible solution. He knew that he had done wrong, he even wanted to change it somehow, giving away the silver, but he did not give himself a chance to meet the resurrected Jesus. He went and hanged himself. It can be said that he did not give himself a chance for the mercy of God, who dies on the cross for him too.
At the foot of the cross in this Week of Change there will be two Marys: the Immaculate and the harlot, one saved from above and the other after sin. They understand each other very well, they are similar to each other! This scene needs to be accentuated particularly strongly. Both the Most Holy and the Sinful can be at the foot of the cross and experience the fruits of this death.
What am I going to do with my Great Week of Change?
In Rome, not far from the Pope's cathedral, is the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. It was built in the IV century by Emperor Constantine. St. Helena, the mother of the emperor, made this basilica a kind of Roman Jerusalem. She brought the earth from Mount Calvary, as well as the inscription that was placed on the cross above Christ's head. To this day, there are many of the most valuable relics related to the death of our Savior, which were brought to this basilica for centuries. In this basilica, until the times when the popes were in Avignon, the so-called blessing of the "golden rose" took place. The faithful offered roses to each other. And the Pope, joining in this custom, blessed the golden rose. Pope Leo IX initiated this. When we look at this flower, we see that it represents a combination of suffering and joy. The rose has a beautiful flower that delights and brings joy to us, but there are also thorns on this rose that cause pain and suffering when touched. It is a symbolism of the time that lies ahead: deep sorrow and penance, but also great joy of Easter. Like any plant, the rose first grows and then produces a beautiful flower. In the rose, thorns first grow, and then the flower blooms. Each of us must also go through his time of thorns, or suffering, in order to arrive at true joy.
In each of us there are these two spiritual dimensions: beauty and ugliness, delight and disgust, fidelity and betrayal. How will we live this Holy Week this year?
In his message for Lent in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI asked a rhetorical question: “Is there more 'mad Love'… than that which led the Son of God to make himself one with us even to the point of suffering as his own the consequences of our offences?” There is no such love, because this is the greatest. But in further reflections the Pope writes that it is not enough just to accept His love – we must reciprocate this love.
Let us try to go through this Great Week of Change, reciprocating as much as we can the infinite love of Jesus – even if it means coming out of betrayal, but always to the joy of the Resurrection.
Thoughts from Saint Faustina: Palm Sunday. This Sunday, I experienced in a special way the sentiments of the most sweet Heart of Jesus. My spirit was there where Jesus was. I saw Jesus riding on a donkey's foal, and the disciples and a great multitude with branches in their hands joyfully accompanying the Lord Jesus. Some strewed them before His feet where He was riding, while others raised their branches in the air, leaping and jumping before the Lord and not knowing what to do for joy. And I saw another crowd which came out to meet Jesus, likewise with joyful faces and with branches in their hands, and they were crying out unceasingly with joy. There were little children there also. But Jesus was very grave, and the Lord gave me to know how much He was suffering at the time. And at that moment, I saw nothing but only Jesus, whose Heart was saturated with ingratitude. (Diary 642)
March 21, 1937. Palm Sunday. During Mass, my soul was steeped in the bitterness and suffering of Jesus. Jesus gave me to understand how much He had suffered in that triumphal procession. “Hosanna” was reverberating in Jesus‟ heart as an echo of “Crucify.” Jesus allowed me to feel this in a special way. (Diary 1028)
Today is the 18th Aniversary of the Death of Saint John Paul II.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us.
fr. george