This is the week to have our eyes checked. What are we to focus on during Holy Week, our selves or on Jesus?The early days of Holy Week are such a combination of anticipation and fearfulness of what is to come. We’ve had the weeks of Lent to prepare and we’re ready for Easter, yet we’re not. I’ve tried to live up to my Lenten resolutions – on some days with more enthusiasm than others. Tuesday’s reading from Isaiah reminds me that God knows of my struggles: “Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength. Yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense with God.” The beautiful words and images in Isaiah help me feel protected and loved, and help to reduce my own fearfulness at falling short.
The focus of Holy Week and of Triduum is very simple. The words from the Letter to the Hebrews can help us keep it in the forefront of our minds and in the depths of our hearts: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." All this week we consider what God has accomplished for us through the paschal mystery.
The Gospel touches me deeply because I can feel how troubled Jesus is. I, too, know what is to come and see the beginnings played out around the table. I feel His sadness at knowing the betrayals of Judas and Peter, yet He is still patient with the apostles, who, at this point always seem to me to be so oblivious to what’s going on. Haven’t they been following this man? Haven’t they been listening? I realize that I, too, am dim. I would like to think that I would get it, that I wouldn’t be Peter. Those same questions can be asked of me: Haven’t I been following this man? Haven’t I been listening?
I know that God won’t abandon me, and that I have not toiled in vain. My prayer today is to ask God to open my eyes, my ears and my heart. Help me to be brave, to be strong and to be present for others.
The Jesus portrayed by John's gospel is the one who is always composed, always attentive, always focused on his mission. The reason is also simple: "The Father and I are one." That's what we see playing out in the evening of betrayals. Jesus knows that, as He acts He is glorified and He in turn gives glory to God. That is the key part of the story here.
But, the questions remain. What about Judas? What about Peter? They are betraying Him, for goodness sake! And what about the rest of us who continue to betray Jesus?
They are not the main part of the story. In the same way, our own betrayal of Jesus is not the main part of the story. Not that it is insignificant or trivial, but all these betrayals are less important than Jesus' glorification on the cross. For that is when He most truly reveals God in glory!
I know that I really want to make this story all about me. That involves my desire to keep my own self in the spotlight on center stage in this great narrative that unfolds before our eyes and within our hearing this week. But, if we really reflect on it, that's not the authentic spirit of Holy Week, is it? That's just a continuation of my own drama of betrayal and demand to be center of the universe.
The focus of Holy Week and of Triduum is very simple. The words from the Letter to the Hebrews can help us keep it in the forefront of our minds and in the depths of our hearts: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." All this week we consider what God has accomplished for us through the paschal mystery.
The Gospel touches me deeply because I can feel how troubled Jesus is. I, too, know what is to come and see the beginnings played out around the table. I feel His sadness at knowing the betrayals of Judas and Peter, yet He is still patient with the apostles, who, at this point always seem to me to be so oblivious to what’s going on. Haven’t they been following this man? Haven’t they been listening? I realize that I, too, am dim. I would like to think that I would get it, that I wouldn’t be Peter. Those same questions can be asked of me: Haven’t I been following this man? Haven’t I been listening?
I know that God won’t abandon me, and that I have not toiled in vain. My prayer today is to ask God to open my eyes, my ears and my heart. Help me to be brave, to be strong and to be present for others.
The Jesus portrayed by John's gospel is the one who is always composed, always attentive, always focused on his mission. The reason is also simple: "The Father and I are one." That's what we see playing out in the evening of betrayals. Jesus knows that, as He acts He is glorified and He in turn gives glory to God. That is the key part of the story here.
But, the questions remain. What about Judas? What about Peter? They are betraying Him, for goodness sake! And what about the rest of us who continue to betray Jesus?
They are not the main part of the story. In the same way, our own betrayal of Jesus is not the main part of the story. Not that it is insignificant or trivial, but all these betrayals are less important than Jesus' glorification on the cross. For that is when He most truly reveals God in glory!
I know that I really want to make this story all about me. That involves my desire to keep my own self in the spotlight on center stage in this great narrative that unfolds before our eyes and within our hearing this week. But, if we really reflect on it, that's not the authentic spirit of Holy Week, is it? That's just a continuation of my own drama of betrayal and demand to be center of the universe.
So, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus." He goes to the cross and rises in order to be glorified and in order to give God great glory. May we bathe in the light and delight of that glory, may our betrayals be immersed in the brightness of His glory throughout this Holy Week and Triduum so that we all might share in that same glory.
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