Holy Week 2024 at Work
(re-post)
We're at work during Holy Week. In one sense, it's a week like any
other. We go about our business. But in another sense, it's unlike any
other work week. The Sacred Triduum looms: Holy Thursday, Good Friday,
Holy Saturday.
So our minds engage now both with practical matters our jobs require
along with our recollection of The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. While we can't ignore our work, it's important that we not
become so absorbed in the daily grind as to keep Our Lord's Passion out
of sight, out of mind.
Here's something to help us consider His Passion 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.
Recently, I read that many if not most of us don't really know or understand the Passion. Even if we know all the details, even if the very thought of Our Lord's suffering brings us to tears, we may not have penetrated the mystery of the Passion. Our understanding thus remains superficial, in a sense.I thought the following might help us to get beyond the "outer layers" of our devotion and penetrate the Passion more deeply.
“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 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?
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