Not the Holy Week we expected

Here we are. We wait months for the holiest week of the year, and this is it.Where is the palm waving? Where are the hosannahs? Where are the packed churches as we reenact the Last Supper and wash one another’s feet? Where is the veneration of the cross on Good Friday? Where are the specks of light filling the dark church on Easter Vigil, as we welcome the first light of Easter?

There’s an emptiness. There’s a sense that we’re being cheated of the sounds, scents, and sights of these days. There’s a feeling that we’re walking through these last days of Lent in darkness.

But maybe this is just what Holy Week is meant to be—raw and somber and real. And maybe the challenge for us is seeing the beauty and the joy in marking this week in a different way.

We can’t have the Eucharist as we stay home for, as one of my friends calls it, what might be the biggest pro-life movement ever. What an act of love we are contributing to. Being unable to receive the Eucharist is huge and sobering—truly a loss. But we are seeing love in action. And we can still grow in our love for our Lord while we cannot receive His Body and Blood.

This year Lent has felt very personal to me. I am enjoying the online reflections the archbishop and our pastor and others share every day, coming right to my phone and laptop, speaking directly to me. So often I intend to go to Mass more often during Lent, and I don’t manage to get there. This year, much as I miss the sacraments, I have found so many faith opportunities are really accessible. And I’m grateful for that.

As Holy Week begins, I don’t know where you are on your Lenten journey. Maybe you’re craving the need to do something, to take action, to pick up your cross in an active way. For you, Holy Week might be a time when you want to connect more deeply with the Word of God. Maybe you want to set clear goals of almsgiving, fasting, and penance for this week. Maybe you’re looking for Lenten activities to do with your children to frame this time. If that’s where you are, follow your heart and fill that void.

But maybe the last thing you need, in this worrying time of quarantine and lessons for children to try to salvage the school year, is one more item on your to-do list. If that’s where you are right now—and, I admit, that is where I am—maybe we can find small and simple ways to walk with Jesus.

Get out of bed every morning knowing that Jesus walks this journey with you.

Seek God in your daily life, looking for Him in the faces of those you encounter.

Remember how much Jesus loves you. Look for those reminders during this week. At a time when you are being asked to be many things to many people, try to do at least one thing for yourself every day.

Place yourself at the foot of the cross. Talk to Jesus. Listen for Him. Join your experiences to His.

And know that we are walking through these days together as a Church. No matter where we are, we are joined in prayer, in hope, and in the faith that real Easter joy lies ahead for each of us, for all of us. Jesus died for you, and He died for me. And He wants us to experience His love every single day.

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