Tuesday of Holy Week: How Things Have Changed Over the Past Two Years
We're on break from our Stability Project. It's Tuesday of Holy Week.
Let's begin our focus on Holy Week by looking back to last year when we celebrated our second Holy Week since the descent of the Pandemic. Things had eased a bit from the year before, but the C-Virus Mess continued, albeit with the jaunty but injudicious claim that "the vaccine" will soon make everything just
Jim Dandy. We weren't as hunkered down and isolated as we were the year before. With the "safe and effective" vaccines we were told that we'd see that glimmer of light turned into a wave as we fully emerged from the dark fear that had gripped a lot of us. It' didn't quite work out that way.
On the religious front, most of us were able to attend Mass, albeit masked. The Sacraments were finally made available after a long dry spell of no Mass, no Confession, no Communion. At least it was something, right?
What we maybe couldn't see, though, was the onslaught of mandates and vaccine passports that would now take over from the lock-downs. While some of that has eased up this year, we're still living with the consequences. Oh, and apparently the Pandemic ain't over yet. (Or so they say.) Our city just reimposed masks for kids in school.
And now there's a war in Europe, the biggest since World War II. The war comes on top of the worst inflation since the 1970s along with continuing problems with the commercial world's supply chains. Prices are rising for food and other items - when you can find them.
But let's get back to Tuesday of Holy Week. Some of
us continue working from home. Some who were laid off or
furloughed from their jobs may have found work; some maybe not. I continue plugging away running my small business. We survived the Mess so far, so I'm not complaining.
Wherever you are, working or not, here's something we've posted in the past that helped us consider the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ in a manner befitting
Catholic men at work. It comes from published remarks from a retreat
conducted by Archbishop James Leen, C.S.Sp. in 1940. Read it now,
maybe bring it with you to work. It can help you to recollect yourself
no matter where you are or what you're doing on this Tuesday in Holy
Week.
“The Cross of Christ is not merely a reminder of a historical fact;
nor is it merely the presentation of a dogmatic truth; nor is it only a
revelation of the awful gravity of sin and a warning of the rigors of
justice with which it is chastised; it is not even primarily an eloquent
plea for gratitude and love. It is, of course, all that, but it is
besides, something of yet greater moment. It is above all else a
sacrifice, which whilst redeeming mankind, is, at the same time the
unfolding of a theory of human existence for the instruction of mankind.
It both restores life to man and explains the conditions which underlie
that life.
"A contemplation of the Passion, no matter how sympathetic it may be,
no matter how deeply it may move the emotions, will be in large measure
robbed of its fruits, unless it issues for the contemplative in a clear
realization and a practical grasp of the lesson the Passion is meant to
convey. Each scene of the sufferings of Jesus as it offers itself to
the imagination and the thought of the Christian must have, as the
permanent background of all, the words that so often reinforced and
summarized His ascetical instructions to the people: “Whosoever doth not
carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).
The Cross is the symbol of the Christian way of living. It teaches that
sacrifice is the essential condition of attaining the good the Savior
won for men at the cost of His Precious Blood; and that sacrifice is the
lot not only of the Savior, but of the saved as well. The Cross is not
only for Christ, it is for the Christian also. The Cross is a sign, as a
book is a sign, for men to read. It gives all Christians to understand
that the Christian calling demands that each follower of Christ develop
in himself that attitude of soul which was Christ’s, and which found its
most significant expression in the Passion…”
This is meaty stuff. It's not too long, but long enough so you'll have
to actually concentrate on what you're reading. Maybe you'll even need
to or want to read it more than once. If you do that, maybe it'll spur some thoughts about Our Lord and His Passion.
It's not always easy to recollect ourselves on or off the job and acknowledge
the presence of God. But during Holy Week, it's important that we do.
Just pull out your rosary and glance at the Crucifix. Doesn't that
provide the motivation you need to make time for Christ during this Holy
Week?
Even in the midst of the continuing Mess, we can do this.
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