Thoughts For Palm Sunday To Bring To Work This Holy Week

Some thoughts from last Palm Sunday to bring to work this Holy Week:

 

With Palm Sunday, Holy Week begins. Our Lenten discipline has brought us now to this most important sacred week. Easter may be peeking over the horizon, but we've still got some final steps to take before we set off the spiritual fireworks and bask in the the glory of Easter Sunday and - if we're wise - the entirety of the Octave of Easter.

Of course, the temptation may arise to throw all our Lenten discipline to the wind. The result of such a rash and hasty decision my be dissipation - a laxity that opens the door for the return of the faults and sins we fought against for these forty days. If you exercise, or eat healthy food, you know that it makes no sense to put in the effort and let go of yourself just when you've made some progress. The same applies to our spiritual life. 

Improvement that comes with effort is a lifelong endeavor, whether mental, physical, or spiritual.

Still, we ought not be be surprised if temptation comes a-knockin' at our door. It's simply the way things go in this Vale of Tears. So with that in mind, we return yet again to the man who assisted our efforts during this past first week of Passiontide. His thoughts on temptation provide a good antidote to help us stay on track not only during Holy Week, but once Easter finally arrives.

“Listen to the words of St. Paul – it is to you he speaks: God is faithful, he says; He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10: 13)

“Weigh well these words, for they will fill you with consolation and confidence in the midst of the hardest trial. God is faithful: He owes it to Himself, He owes it to His own promises, He owes it to his love for you, to succor you in any danger that threatens your soul. His glory is interested in helping you, because sin is an offence against Himself. He knows that you can do nothing without Him, and that you will most certainly fall if He abandons you. If He failed you in these critical moments He would not be Himself.
“He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear. The faithfulness of God towards us does not consist in delivering us from all temptation – for that would be to deprive Himself of His own glory, and to deprive us of the merit attached to the victory – but His faithfulness consists in never allowing the temptation to go beyond our strength to resist. God knows perfectly, and infinitely better than we do, what our strength really is, for we derive our strength solely from Him and His grace.” (Father John Grou, S.J., 1731-1803)

If we have made some progress strengthening our spiritual lives, Easter should not find us backing off. While we may not pursue the extraordinary sacrifices of Lent, it's not time to let the world, the flesh, and the devil regain the upper hand. 

Let's remember vice's deadly opponent: virtue. And virtue takes work - not just during Lent, but every day of our lives.

“A virtue that has never been tried does not deserve the name of virtue…The effect of every temptation against purity, for example, or against faith, or against hope, is to strengthen these virtues in our soul and carry them to the highest degree. The effect of anxieties, of weariness in doing good, of disgust at everything, of evident repugnance to duty, of extreme desolation, so that all feelings of grace are withdrawn from us, and God seems to have forsaken us – the effect of all this is to purify our love, to increase our courage, our fidelity, and our perseverance. The effect of calumnies, vexations, and persecutions is to raise us above all human respect, and at the same time to take away from us a certain good opinion of ourselves which the praise of men nourishes in us without our perceiving it. Finally, the general effect of all temptations is to detach us from the things of this world, to humble us in our own eyes, to inspire us with more trust in God, and to draw us into closer union with Him.” (Father John Grou, S.J., 1731-1803)

Closer union with God: It's the whole purpose of Lent and our ongoing pursuit of holiness throughout the year. 

Have a blessed Holy Week.

We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world