Bishop Gruss: There are many graces of the season yet to be received - Reflection on Palm Sunday and the Holiest Week of the Church Year

I hope and pray that your Lenten journey has gone well and has been fruitful.

It hasn’t been easy as we move through these challenging times. Obviously, we have all been affected by the coronavirus. Many people are worried and concerned. This is a normal human reaction to the unknown. We have never been here before.

This Lenten season has been like no other. But friends, let’s hang in there. We can be assured of this – the Lord Jesus is with us! We are not alone. The Lord Jesus is with us!

Remain with Jesus

But now we are about to begin this holiest week of the Church year. Obviously, this will be very different for us this year.

But, we also must remember that there are many graces of the season yet to be received for those remaining in this posture of prayer and reflection. And because of the coronavirus, it is important that we intensify our spiritual practices. It is really important that we remain with Jesus during the holiest week of the Church year.

A Week Like None Other

This Holy Week is significant for all Christians and for all Christian communities. It is a week like none other in the Church year. This Holy Week is meant to be different for all of us. This year, even more so. 

We are invited to pause this week in a very intentional way and enter into a love story, this profound story of love. Because this week revolves around a story — actually, not a story but a reality— that is holy, it deserves to be kept holy: to be kept differently, to be lived differently – in an intentional way.

Love Poured Out from the Heart of God

As we know, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is not about ancient history, something that happened 2000 years ago. What we celebrate today is not just something that is symbolic of what happened long ago. It is about the here and now. This week is holy because it derives its meaning from the love poured out from the heart of God. 

I want you to use your imagination. Allow yourself to imagine— actually, in your heart, allow yourself to experience love poured out from the heart of God. Ask for it! Seek it! This is why this week is holy. 

The heart of the Father is on display in the person of his Son. We know Jesus to be the face of the Father’s mercy. His words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy and love of God. This is why we are invited to walk with him this week every step of the way to Calvary.

Passing Triumph before Eternal Triumph

Today we experience a day of passing triumph as Jesus enters the great city of Jerusalem. Crowds of people are spreading their cloaks on the road, throwing what we believe are palm branches on the road, crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” 

This is a day of triumph – but passing triumph. 

Let’s look at the word ‘hosanna’ for a moment. In the Old Testament, in Psalm 118:25, the root word was more like an urgent cry for help. Hosanna is a Hebrew word which means ‘(O Lord) grant salvation’ or ‘save us,’ but in Mathew’s Gospel that invocation had become an acclamation of jubilation and welcome. 

A week from now with another day of triumph, though this one of lasting and eternal nature. Palm Sunday joyfully acclaims our King, but soon he will be drawn into the sufferings that he will have to endure in this week.

Walk with Jesus

You and I are invited to walk with Jesus as he will be confronted with the “slanders and insults, the snares and betrayals, an unjust judgment, the blows, the scourging, the crown of thorns… and lastly, the way of the cross leading to the crucifixion.”  

Throughout this week there will be an extraordinary mixture of human pain, of sorrow and fear – something experienced by all of us in some way. We are experiencing it right now with the coronavirus crisis. So this story is really our story.  Take time to bring out your Bibles and read the Passion stories; read them with your families, and walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. 

Yes, we all know the story so well. And sometimes familiarity diminishes the reality and causes us to gloss over the depth of what is conveyed in this life of the Son of God. Let’s not let this happen during this Holy Week, especially in the midst of this crisis in our country, our world.

Holy Week is Our Story

Each time we re-enter the story, there is much more to glean, much more to learn – about Jesus, about the Father’s love and about ourselves. To be taken where we have not allowed ourselves to go before is what the Lord desires for each of us throughout this week.

This is precisely why this Holy Week is important for each of us. This Holy Week is our story – our story of redemption. In our moments of weakness, short-sightedness, and failure, in these days of crisis, we should not lose hope, but rather realize our need for God’s mercy, forgiveness and grace, allowing us to renew our commitment to follow the Lord Jesus.

Enter into Some Silence, Fasting and Prayer

Therefore, we are invited to pause this week in a very intentional way and enter into this profound story of love. Let us put aside all of our gadgets in our lives and take a break from our social media, our music, our televisions – from all the noise which surrounds us – and enter into some silence, fasting and prayer.

Let’s take a fast from all of these things so that we can be with Jesus. Take time for more prayer, to be with Jesus in a very personal, intimate, and intentional way. The Lord speaks to us in the silence. We won’t regret it.

Share Holy Week with Jesus

In conclusion, this week should not be like every other week. Let us all be with Jesus in this mystery of his suffering and death, which is also the mystery of our own lives.  

Jesus “emptied himself and took the form of a slave” for all of us. It was what we call in Greek, his ‘kenosis.’ He emptied himself for us. 
Perhaps we can use this week to enter into our own kenosis (self-emptying love), so that we can share it with Jesus. He is inviting us to stay with him, walk with him, and to let him reveal his love for us. 

As I said earlier, there is much more to glean, much more to learn – about Jesus, about the Father’s love and about ourselves. To be taken where we have not allowed ourselves to go before is what the Lord desires for each of us throughout this week. This is our invitation to this Holy Week. 

How could anyone say ‘no’ to this!  Be assured of my prayers for you. God bless you, and have a beautiful Holy Week.