Holy Week 2023 is upon us and for some it will coincide with Spring Break. Some of our neighbors will seek a warmer climate in hopes of finding green grass and blossoms a-blooming. Others of us will hope for the miracle of a beautiful spring day on which to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. No matter where one finds oneself this Holy Week, I hope it will give us pause for reflection for why this week is so special to us.
Our celebration of the Sacred Triduum leading to Easter coincides again this year with the Jewish feast of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. I see this convergence of the sacred in our world … where the Divine enters into the human pilgrimage and humanity is invited to reconnect with our Divine origin as a sign of renewal and hope. All three observances are connected with humanity’s journey with God not just in the past, but also here and now.
For Jewish believers, the celebration of Passover is an invitation to enter the journey of liberation from slavery and sin accompanied by the Lord who lights their way and watches over them. At the Passover supper, an important question is asked: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Its difference is symbolized in the food shared: (1) matzah (unleavened bread) is a symbol of affliction and freedom — it is what the Jewish people carry with them as they flee Egypt. Thus, it also symbolizes freedom and renewal; (2) bitter herbs are a reminder of the bitterness of slavery, but also remind the partaker that struggle is better than the complacent acceptance of injustice; (3) dipping into salt water calls to mind not only the tears of the enslaved, but the greenery used reminds the participant of their own call to care for God’s creation; and (4) the reclining position symbolizes the hand of the Lord feeding His people and also sign of freedom and prosperity.
For believers of Islam, Ramadan is a month of fasting in the ninth month of the lunar calendar. Like the Christian Lent, the month of Ramadan is the month of abstinence, the month when one deprives oneself of food, among other things. Yet, beyond fasting itself, this month is seen as a good opportunity to renew the Muslim believers’ spiritual practice concerning prayer, fasting and charitable works. The tenets of the Muslim faith are known as the “Five Pillars of Islam” — they are the pillars on which a Muslim’s faith life are built: Declaration of Belief in God; Prayer five times a day; Fasting (Ramadan); Almsgiving; and Pilgrimage (Hajj). Particularly, Ramadan is seen as a time of solidarity and sharing — reminding individuals of their true origin in God.
For Christians, the fulfillment for all believers is to be found in the events of Holy Week, especially the Easter Triduum. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “from the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed fixed feasts, beginning with Passover, to commemorate the astonishing actions of the Savior God, to give him thanks for them, to perpetuate their remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them. In the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once for all, and its consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ” (#1164). It goes on to state: “Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a ‘year of the Lord’s favor.’ The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated ‘as a foretaste,’ and the kingdom of God enters into our time” (#1168).
Most important then is the Catechism’s declaration: “Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the ‘Feast of feasts,’ the ‘Solemnity of solemnities,’ just as the Eucharist is the ‘Sacrament of sacraments’ (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter ‘the Great Sunday” and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week ‘the Great Week.’ The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him” (#1169).
The focal point of the Church’s Liturgical Calendar is the great three days — the Triduum. The Church’s liturgies during these days are not simply a re-enactment of something that happened over 2,000 years ago but invite believers to actual participation in the events themselves. These events are outside of time — “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8) — and made present in our liturgical celebrations and in our reception of the Sacraments. Just as every Mass is an invitation to enter into the sacrifice of Calvary which occurred once and for all on the first Good Friday.
Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, a 20th century Catholic theologian, notes: “Just as the Eucharist is not a simple remembrance of something which happened in the past, but the perpetual reactualization of the Body of the Lord and of his Sacrifice, in the same fashion is Scripture less a question of history than of the form and vehicle of God’s Word uttered unceasingly and uttered even now.” Thus, Holy Week 2023 is all about you and I renewing our belief in our Trinitarian God as humanity’s Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier — not just with an “I do” uttered in the Renewal of Baptismal Promises at Easter Mass, but even more with our very lives!
My prayer for all of us as we prepare for the Great Week of the year — Holy Week — come from these 2018 words of Pope Francis: “Let us be willing to properly experience this now imminent Holy Triduum … in order to be ever more deeply immersed in the Mystery of Christ, who died and rose for us!” Happy Easter and the peace of the Risen Lord be with you and all your loved ones!
