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Here we are once again at the most significant week of the year, the week that gives meaning to all the others. It’s surely the week when we human beings can see in summary the story of our lives, of the lives of all humanity. Jesus walked the path before us, and in doing so he made his own the varied experiences with which we are all familiar. The week opens with this Palm Sunday liturgy. In the dynamics of this day in his life we clearly see the dynamics of so many days in our own.
First we have a triumphant and festive entry into Jerusalem, but played out amid the backdrop of anguish and destruction to follow. Yes, it’s a joyful and exultant and encouraging celebration, but we know for him, as for us, it is bitter sweet. As we look ahead to the rest of this week, we know very well that this exuberance won’t last; we know the theme of celebration turns for us, as it did for Jesus, to other aspects of our human condition: to condemnation, misunderstanding, anxiety, fear. We are reminded of our times and of his when painful isolation and loneliness replace the happiness we sometimes enjoy. We are well aware that, as for Jesus, there will always be suffering, and we will have to set our faces like flint, as the first reading says, to stick it out and not run away. But where would we run anyway? There’s no out. There’s only going forward with the hope that we will be supported somehow, despite our fearful cry which is the cry of Jesus: “O God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” We can and we do go forward because of the reminder from St. Paul, that we don’t travel alone, no matter how it may sometimes seem. The deaths that we face are all a prelude to the new life Jesus and we have been promised. How this all happens, and even more so why it does is part of the mystery of living. But we do know that one week from now the mystery will be unveiled again, though not yet fully explained or understood. The prison of our human condition will open another time to the freedom of new life and resurrection. Yes, this is the week that gives meaning to all the others: celebration and joy, terror, grasping for hope, death that turns to life and peace.
And so, once again, we begin our Holy Week journey with Jesus the Christ who is one with us. We contemplate where we are in our lives at this time, perhaps celebratory, perhaps doubtful, maybe acutely suffering, maybe hopeful and awaiting the joy of holy Easter. And we find in the story of our redemption compressed into these few days, whatever it is we need today, this week, this year, to continue on our own human path.