Dear Parishioner,
We are entering the week of the year which is most intensely focused on the very core of our faith. On Palm Sunday we commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. A crowd has assembled shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Cloaks are spread in the road in front of Jesus and some people cut greenery and wave it in salutation.
The entry into Jerusalem is the beginning of a journey of triumph. We will accompany Jesus as he passes through the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the trial by the Sanhedrin, the Praetorium, the Way of the Cross, Calvary and the Sepulchre – to the Resurrection.
One of the outstanding elements of Holy Week is our commemoration of the Lord’s suffering, a suffering so extreme that, perhaps, sometimes we do not like to think about it. Nevertheless, it is an element of the affective side of our Christian devotion. We consider how much Our Lord suffered for our sins and we also unite our sufferings and the sufferings of others with His. Currently, we are very conscious of the suffering in the World, particularly in Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, Sudan and Yemen, but also more widely from sub-Saharan Africa through to the Pakistan border. Our contribution to making life better should be based on our belief that that suffering and death are not the last word; all the suffering in the World is not the last word. We pray for an end to violence as we gaze at Christ on the Cross.
“The work of Christ” is the salvation of the World from the death incurred because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and the subsequent sinfulness of humanity. The earliest depictions of the Crucifixion show Christ in royal robes reigning from the Cross. May we experience a deeper conversion of heart. These days call us to be participants Christ’s Passion, through prayer, repentance, and love.
As we commence Holy Week let us make a conscious effort to thank God for our salvation and humbly ask him that He will give us the grace to persevere in it.
Yours in Christ,
Dom Timothy Gorham OSB
