"Holy Week: It's all about life!"

Victory and defeat--that's what Holy Week is all about. Which means that Holy Week is about life, since everyone's life contains both joyful victories, and devastating defeats. Consequently, by reflecting on the Passion and Death of Jesus, we all have the opportunity this week to learn more about life.

I was reminded of this recently as I meditated on the events of the very first Palm Sunday. For Jesus, Palm Sunday was, without question, a great "victory experience." As we heard in the Gospel text that I read at the beginning of Mass, our Lord was given a king's welcome into the city of Jerusalem; he was hailed by the crowds as their long-awaited Messiah. So what does this Biblical event teach us about life? Well, among other things, it teaches us how fleeting popularity is; it teaches us that fame and power and prestige all pass away very quickly. Some people, as we all know, will compromise their morals, their integrity, and their values for a few years of notoriety. The events of Palm Sunday remind us that it's not worth it--because public opinion polls can change as quickly as the New England weather. You can be on top of the world one minute, and public enemy number one the next. On the first Palm Sunday, for example, the crowds cheered wildly for Jesus: they cried out, "Hosanna to the Son of David," "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;" they threw down their coats and palm branches along his path as he entered the city. Then, 5 short days later, they nailed him to a cross! And it's very likely that some of the same people who called him the Messiah on Sunday were shouting "Crucify him! Crucify him!" on Friday.

That's just one lesson about life that we learn from the Passion and Death of our Lord. Some others are: how to love your enemies; how to deal with betrayal; how to pray when you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders; how to overcome the temptation to take the easy way out of a difficult situation; how to trust God no matter what. And that's by no means an exhaustive list!

Of course, the only people who will learn lessons like these are those make special time for the Lord during the next several days. Those who plan to make it "business as usual" will not be so blessed. And so, I invite you--I ask you--I challenge you--to pray, to ponder, and to participate during this sacred week: pray as often as you can, pray more than you usually do; ponder the events that took place during the last days of Jesus. (Do that by reading the Scriptures and meditating on what you read.) And then participate in the special services and liturgies that we have here: the Mass of the Lord's Supper at 7 pm on Thursday, Stations of the Cross at 12 noon and 3 pm on Friday, the celebration of the Lord's Passion on Good Friday night at 7 pm.