Holy Week Reflection
March 2002
Philomena Marie McCartney, OP
On Sunday the triumphal welcome with the waving of palms and the spreading of cloaks before Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem and the detailed Passion of Matthew gave us a sense of the mystery we are entering into this most sacred week.
We have much to bring before the suffering Jesus this Holy Week 2002 before we commemorate and celebrate His glorious Resurrection. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again is the proclamation that comes to mind for me.
I believe Christ has died in the events of our world that continue to put before us images of human suffering. The six-month commemoration of the attack on our country put us in touch again with death, mourning, suspicion and fear. Do we look at the pictures and hear the reports of the devastation in Palestine, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, Northern Ireland through new eyes? Do we see the suffering Christ in the eyes of the children hovering next to their mothers with their homes crushed to the ground in the background? Is Christ not dying in the midst of the sexual abuse scandals on the front page of every newspaper every day.
Christ is Risen, Christ can effect healing through us if we listen with a cupped ear. If we connect ourselves with what it means to live in the Resurrection time and proclaim its possibilities. If we are willing to be resurrection people we can proclaim that Christ is Risen in us. Christ lives within us and among us. We witness this in the humanitarian responses to the impoverished, the poor and the marginalized, the homeless children as featured in Sunday's NY Times, the troubled families in our parishes and ministries. We might ask ourselves the question, " Am I part of this response?" What am I doing to image the hope and glory of the Resurrected Christ at this crucial time of our history?
On the day that the towers of light were illuminated as a temporary memorial to the victims who perished in the WTC , I was in Liberty State Park which is directly across from ground zero on the Jersey side. As car radios blared the strains of " America the Beautiful" and the bright blue lights cut through the dark clear sky, people began to smile and weep at the same time. One engine company blew the horns from their truck and spontaneous prayers … God be praised, Lord have mercy could be heard from people who just stopped by to see the event. A Resurrection moment.
Christ will come again. Is this when the lion will truly lay down with the lamb, when wars will be no more, when justice will prevail, when every tear will be wiped away, when all will be one? Do we really believe this? If so, then we must walk in that belief. We must become a part of the solution to the complexities of today. We must become informed, aware and unafraid. In order to do that we must proclaim: Christ has died, Christ is Risen… Christ will come again.