RBWords - Volume 28 - Number 3: March 2015
Something to Think About
As I begin this issue of RBWORDS, it is the beginning of Holy Week. Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday in which the full experience of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was remembered with the blessing of palms and processions singing, "Hosanna to the son of David," but also we heard the Passion According to Mark, with its cry, "Crucify him!" We all sang and shouted! With that opening celebration, we become participants in Jesus' experience through our baptism. [Romans 6:3-4]
The scriptures for the liturgical celebrations in this week offer the passages from Isaiah that describe a "suffering servant," whom the Christian community considered to be a prefigurement of Jesus' suffering. The culminating passage on Good Friday is almost spooky in its description, it is so vivid and accurate. The gospel scriptures Monday to Wednesday speak of the plotting and betrayals (both by Judas and by Peter!). They also mention the very powerful and poignant gesture of the anointing at Bethany. With Holy Thursday, events become more focused and the Last Supper, with Jesus washing the feet of the disciples (John) and offering his body and blood as bread and wine (1 Corinthians), all celebrated against the background of the Exodus story (Exodus). On Good Friday, with Isaiah's prophecy in mind, we hear the Passion According to John. We will have our chance to say, "Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!" On Holy Saturday, at the Easter Vigil, the broad tapestry of God's plan of salvation is laid out in the special scriptures, and we have the opportunity to witness the powerful commitment of new Catholics in baptism - which identifies us with Christ in his death and resurrection. The blessing of the new fire and the lighting of the pascal candle open up the joy of resurrection with its new cry, "Alleluia!"
I urge my Beloved Readers to take advantage of this incredibly rich opportunity to deepen our appreciation of what was done for us and is still being done for us each time we celebrate the Eucharist. To each and every one of you I wish a blessed and holy Sacred Triduum and Easter celebration. I will remember you all in my prayers this week. IT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
"Because we are all the children of God we all have our part to play in His redemptive plan; and the Church consists of those loving souls who have accepted this obligation, with all that it costs. Its members are all required to live, each in his own way, through the sufferings and self-abandonment of the Cross, as the only real contribution which they can make to the redemption of the world. Christians, like their Master, must be ready to accept the worst that evil and cruelty can do to them, and vanquish it by the power of love."
Evelyn Underhill - THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT