HOLY WEEK

Holy Week is the most important week in Catholicism. This week of great reverence and reflection spans the final eight days of Jesus’ life—from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It is astounding how much wisdom, insight and inspiration are available to us during this one week. Here is just a sample of what happens during Holy Week:
• Palm Sunday, Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem
• Monday of Holy Week, Jesus clears out the temple with a whip
• Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus is anointed with oil at Bethany and preaches on the Mount of Olives
• Spy Wednesday, Jesus is betrayed by Judas
• Holy Thursday, Jesus celebrates the Last Supper, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is arrested
• Good Friday, Jesus is sentenced to death, scourged, beaten, crucified, and dies on the Cross
• Holy Saturday, Jesus is buried in the tomb and descends into hell
• Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead
In the Old Testament the Hebrew Kadosch (holy) meant being separated from the secular or profane, or dedication to God’s service, as Israel was said to be holy because it was the people of God. The holiness of God identified His separation from all evil. And among creatures they are holy by their relation to Him. Holiness in creatures is either subjective or objective or both. It is subjective essentially by the possession of divine grace and
morally by the practice of virtue. Objective holiness in creatures denotes their exclusive consecration to the service of God: priests by their ordination, religious by their vows, sacred places, vessels, and vestments by the blessing they receive and the sacred purpose for which they are reserved. During this Holy Week, Jesus completed the work of redemption by restoring us to our original integrity: created in the image and likeness of God. By His blood we are saved, by His wounds we are healed. The whole purpose of Jesus coming is not just to make us nice or morally
upright persons but to make us divine so that we become partakers of the divine life. We are called to make God’s love shine in our lives. The Church is the new Israel, the new Jerusalem. That is why the Church calls everyone to a life of holiness. It means that we are consecrated and set apart so that we are formed according to the mind and heart of God not for our sake but always for the sake of others. It is such a huge and
enormous privilege but with great responsibility. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who is the agent of recreation, new life and rebirth.
Happy Holy Week!