While we in the United States were devastated by the recent shooting of 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, there has also been continuing violence in the Holy Land.
A Catholic News Service (CNS) article published on October 29 said Holy Land Church leaders expressed concern in the wake of recent incidents involving the Christian community.
Easter is early this year (Sunday, April 1), so we will soon be starting Holy Week on Palm Sunday, March 25.
At this time, our thoughts and prayers turn to what happened in Jerusalem during Our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.
As we prepare to begin Holy Week, our thoughts and prayers turn to what happened in Jerusalem during Our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.
We will be reliving the events of that week during the liturgies of Holy Week in our churches. It is a special time for us as Christians, and hopefully we will attend as many services as we can.
During Holy Week, we may envision what happened in Jerusalem: Jesus’ triumphal arrival with palms waving, his last supper with his apostles, his suffering and death on a cross. We may see these events as part of history, viewing them almost with a sense of nostalgia.
However, our faith makes us realize that these events are not only in the past. We reenact them every year — and every day of our lives — as we journey with Jesus in the triumphs, crosses, deaths, and resurrections we face.
It always makes me sad to read the Scripture passages telling how the apostles fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus’ arrest — not only once, but three times!
Jesus says to them, “Could you not watch one hour with me” (Mt. 26:40)? It doesn’t seem like much to ask of his disciples — who had traveled with him and were the primary teachers of his message — to stay awake by his side. However, the apostles were human. Jesus recognized their humanity when he added, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Unfortunately many of us aren’t always being vigilant about what is happening around us, especially when it comes to things that are impacting our faith and our Church.
Starting with Palm Sunday, Catholics are following in the footsteps of Jesus during the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter with the wonderful Scripture readings recounting the Passion, death, and Resurrection.
We read in all four Gospels that Jesus experienced a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He rode on a donkey, which traditionally meant he arrived in peace (those with more war-like purposes were said to ride on a horse).
Many people in the United States are facing challenges because of unemployment and economic difficulties. Budgets are tight.
However, the worldwide downturn in the economy is also affecting the people living in the land where Jesus lived and walked, where he suffered, died, and rose from the dead.
As we observe Holy Week and Easter, we especially hear about places such as the Sea of Galilee, Bethelehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. In all those places today, Christians are struggling to keep their faith alive and to live in dignity.
