"All you have to do is to sing the song you picked out!"
HOLY
WEEK
This coming week is Holy Week.
In many ways it’s self-explanatory.What would it be like to invite 5 people up
to the pulpit and have them explain what this week means to them? If you were
one of the 5, what day would you say hits you the most?
In other words, each person would tell us which of the 4
Key Days of this coming week is their favorite: Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday, Holy
Thursday of Good Friday.Which one is our
favorite?
Palm Sunday: It's the type of day when everything is fine. Everything is celebration
- even if we’re riding on a donkey instead of a Mercedes or a BMW.Everyone is raising their palms and waving to
us, “Hi!”
Holy Thursday: It's a day when we’re enjoying a great meal with our family
and friends. It’s Thanksgiving or it’s Christmas Dinner. It’s our anniversary or
our birthday. It's a day when someone is washing our feet or doing our toe nails. It's a day when we realize all the people who are giving
their life to and for us. They are saying with word and example: this is my
body, this is my blood, I’m giving my life in sacrifice to and for you.
Good Friday: this my favorite. The 7 last messages of
Christ are spoken to us personally. We gain inner peace because we hear Christ
say to us from the Cross: “Father forgive you, for you really didn’t know what
you were doing.” Or our dad or mom is dying in hospice or in the hospital and
we hear them saying to God, “Into your hands, O God, I give you my spirit.”Or we’re walking the way of the cross and
Mary, the mother of Jesus comes to our aid - or a Simon is there to help us.
Easter Sunday: is the type of day when the darkness disappears. It's a recovery day. It's a discovery day. We've experienced a painful death or a tough funeral of
a loved one. Jesus overwhelms us - like Jesus coming through the walls of our inner room. We experience a Niagara Falls of a waterfall that washes away all
our hurt and we say to God, “Mom, dad, or my child or spouse is in a better
place. I believe in resurrection, Easter and new life. Thank you Jesus.”
The title of my brief homily is "Holy Week" and I’m asking: which if
these 4 days is our favorite: Today Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday or Easter
Sunday? Amen.
“OUCH!”
My niece Patty has this unique skill of
picking up on put downs - sneaky innuendos -
and digs people say - to say I'm better
than you. She says a naked, “Ouch!”
She then tightens her jaw a tiny bit.
She’s my godchild, so I brag about her. I must add: she didn’t get this from me.
But after I hear that “Ouch!” and see
her face, I think back to the comment
that evoked that “Ouch!” out of her.
It could be about clothes or work or
someone’s kids or weight. “Ouch!” It says to me: "Have a sense of justice, fairness and respect for others. Pick up on put downs and you too, scream, “Ouch!”
