A Blessed Holy Week to All
I originally posted this last year during Holy Week. My thoughts remain the same this year, so here it is again.
Holy Week finds me at work - like any other week. I'll be off early Friday, in time to make the afternoon Good Friday services at our parish church. Other than that, it's work as usual. Well, not exactly as usual.
I'll be with Jesus in a special way - or maybe I should say He'll be with me - while I work.
Every day, Jesus works beside me, but most of the time I don't pay him any mind. Some days I work right through the day and - besides a brief prayer to start my day, and saying grace before eating lunch - I hardly give a thought to Our Lord.
But not during Holy Week.
The great graces of Holy Week manage to spill even through the tiny cracks in my work day. If you can't think of Jesus in a special way throughout Holy Week, then you're not really clear on just what Holy Week should be for us Catholics.
We've spent Lent in a special spirit of prayer, sacrifice and charity. Maybe you thought you were racking up points during Lent by being really faithful to your special prayers and sacrifices. Maybe you succeeded in being charitable in word and works all throughout Lent. Great. But there's danger in being too successful that way during Lent. The danger is that as soon as Easter arrives, you're back to your "old self."
A good example might be someone who gives up alcohol, and the moment Lent ends, starts drinking up a storm. What was the point of giving up alcohol (or anything else) in the first place? To show how strong you were? If that was your motivation, then all you've done is build yourself up. You were focused on you, instead of on Jesus.
If Lent means anything, it means renewing yourself in some way to be closer to Jesus - or, more accurately, opening your heart so that He can draw closer to you. It's about Jesus, not you.
So now that it's Holy Week you can wake up and put your mind and heart where they belong - on Jesus. You can feel His presence each day as you wake up, prepare for the day, work, and finish your day. You can remember that this was the week that He saved us from our sins and opened the gates of Heaven to each of us, the gates that were closed when Adam and Eve committed that first terrible Original Sin. You can remember how He did that: by suffering and dying for you.
His Passion and Death - and ultimately His Resurrection - haunt our thoughts and, perhaps, our feelings all through this Holy Week. Perhaps you'll remember that by His Passion and Death He made all things new.
Ask Him to perfect every minute of your work this week. Pray earnestly that He do this for you, as a means of showing your love for Him. Thank Him for counting you among His children. Hope that He never be grieved by your evil deeds.
In short, think of Him, rely on Him, live each moment for Him.
You can't do this on your own. But the special graces of Holy Week will help you, especially if you've gone to confession to prepare for Easter.
And when Easter comes, don't turn back to the old ways. Pray that your special time with Jesus becomes your ordinary, everyday way, as much as is practically possible. Pray that you don't "go back" to who and what you were. Let Him know that you accept this new man He has made and that you really don't need those old pleasures and sins that you keep clinging too. Ask for the grace to give them all up for His sake, for Him who gave up all for you.
Making a living, improving yourself by gaining knowledge and understanding, enjoying pleasures, amassing wealth - whatever you do, whatever you think you work for, all this doesn't really matter in the end. All that matters is your relationship with Jesus. And if you're ever going to realize this, let it be this Holy Week.
This is my Holy Week at work with Jesus, in Jesus, all for Jesus.
Holy Week finds me at work - like any other week. I'll be off early Friday, in time to make the afternoon Good Friday services at our parish church. Other than that, it's work as usual. Well, not exactly as usual.
I'll be with Jesus in a special way - or maybe I should say He'll be with me - while I work.
Every day, Jesus works beside me, but most of the time I don't pay him any mind. Some days I work right through the day and - besides a brief prayer to start my day, and saying grace before eating lunch - I hardly give a thought to Our Lord.
But not during Holy Week.
The great graces of Holy Week manage to spill even through the tiny cracks in my work day. If you can't think of Jesus in a special way throughout Holy Week, then you're not really clear on just what Holy Week should be for us Catholics.
We've spent Lent in a special spirit of prayer, sacrifice and charity. Maybe you thought you were racking up points during Lent by being really faithful to your special prayers and sacrifices. Maybe you succeeded in being charitable in word and works all throughout Lent. Great. But there's danger in being too successful that way during Lent. The danger is that as soon as Easter arrives, you're back to your "old self."
A good example might be someone who gives up alcohol, and the moment Lent ends, starts drinking up a storm. What was the point of giving up alcohol (or anything else) in the first place? To show how strong you were? If that was your motivation, then all you've done is build yourself up. You were focused on you, instead of on Jesus.
If Lent means anything, it means renewing yourself in some way to be closer to Jesus - or, more accurately, opening your heart so that He can draw closer to you. It's about Jesus, not you.
So now that it's Holy Week you can wake up and put your mind and heart where they belong - on Jesus. You can feel His presence each day as you wake up, prepare for the day, work, and finish your day. You can remember that this was the week that He saved us from our sins and opened the gates of Heaven to each of us, the gates that were closed when Adam and Eve committed that first terrible Original Sin. You can remember how He did that: by suffering and dying for you.
His Passion and Death - and ultimately His Resurrection - haunt our thoughts and, perhaps, our feelings all through this Holy Week. Perhaps you'll remember that by His Passion and Death He made all things new.
Ask Him to perfect every minute of your work this week. Pray earnestly that He do this for you, as a means of showing your love for Him. Thank Him for counting you among His children. Hope that He never be grieved by your evil deeds.
In short, think of Him, rely on Him, live each moment for Him.
You can't do this on your own. But the special graces of Holy Week will help you, especially if you've gone to confession to prepare for Easter.
And when Easter comes, don't turn back to the old ways. Pray that your special time with Jesus becomes your ordinary, everyday way, as much as is practically possible. Pray that you don't "go back" to who and what you were. Let Him know that you accept this new man He has made and that you really don't need those old pleasures and sins that you keep clinging too. Ask for the grace to give them all up for His sake, for Him who gave up all for you.
Making a living, improving yourself by gaining knowledge and understanding, enjoying pleasures, amassing wealth - whatever you do, whatever you think you work for, all this doesn't really matter in the end. All that matters is your relationship with Jesus. And if you're ever going to realize this, let it be this Holy Week.
This is my Holy Week at work with Jesus, in Jesus, all for Jesus.
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