Engagement Holy Week Walk with Christ

Friends of Faith:

I have had others agree with me that Holy Week is their favorite spiritual and sacramental week of the liturgical year.

I don’t remember very many times, over the years, that I haven’t been able to attend liturgies every day from Thursday thru Sunday – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil) and Easter Sunday. It was then, and has over the years become extremely important for me to have a full experience of not just history, but to be a part of Christ’s saving journey for us during Holy Week.

Certainly I didn’t go to church every day when I was younger because I was “holy,” nor do I now. I went then because I was lucky enough to be part of a family who found Christ not just in his Resurrection, but also in his passion and death.

And I go now because I understand that without his passion and death we would not have a Resurrection. Christ’s passion and death, his suffering, allow us the grace of forgiveness, so that through His death we can have the gift of eternal life—Resurrection. I would feel denied and empty if I was unable to engage in the liturgies of His death and Resurrection, not just during Holy Week, but every day of my life.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane,^*and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” … He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!”Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open. He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again. Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.” Mt 26: 36-45

One of my earliest memories of Holy Week is spending Holy Thursday night with my dad from 11 p.m. to midnight in church. Dad explained to me that our hour of prayer in front of the exposed tabernacle (Eucharistic adoration) was to commemorate the time the disciples spent at watch with Jesus as he prayed, and I remember thinking that I could not and would not be like them – I was going to stay awake (a difficult task for someone age 5 or 6 in a quiet church that late at night).

I know now that I fall asleep as the disciples did each time I sin. I fall asleep each time I don’t fully trust in my faith. And I fall asleep each time I justify a choice that is not God’s will for me.

But I realize that each time I walk this Holy Week with Christ, and that each time I am given the opportunity to celebrate Mass (the Last Supper) I am given another gift, another grace by which to bear my own sufferings, and another opportunity to feel His awe and presence in my life.

The glory of his Resurrection is just that much greater when I have am able to take part in the entire experience celebrated this week. I become a part of the crowd exalting His entrance into Jerusalem by waving of palms on Palm Sunday. I am a witness to the initiation of the Eucharist and priesthood, through the blessing of bread and wine and the washing of the feet of His disciples at His Last Supper on Holy Thursday.

I feel empty of His presence by the lack of Mass on Good Friday (while there is a liturgy service, no Eucharist is celebrated anywhere in the world on the day we commemorate Jesus’ death.) And great sorrow in the reading of Holy Scripture which tells of the pain and suffering Jesus Christ experienced – knowing that it is my sin for which He was nailed to and hung on the cross.

And I have witnessed with joy the rebirth given to those who symbolically become new lights in faith as they fully join the church through the blessing of the new water in baptism and in the first communions, and confirmations celebrated at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.

Lord God, make me one with you. Help every human to have the opportunities I have been given, to be a Christian who walks with You, who is present in both Your death and Resurrection and who participates fully in the Sacraments You have initiated for us in faith. Thank You for the gift of salvation. May I be a faithful disciple whose awe for you keeps me awake, engaged and present in the journey. Amen.

Every ritual, every veneration and blessing allows me to walk one step closer with Jesus: to walk, fall, deny, and to be forgiven, as one of His faithful disciples; to feel the sorrow and pain of His mother, Mary; even to bear the judgments, hatred and the misunderstandings of the crowd.

If you have not been blessed to experience these days with a community within a church I would invite your participation in the liturgy of a Holy Week,

Engage. Make Christ’s journey more, take the opportunity and make it your priority to become one with Him on the journey He walked for us. Without you, His journey for us means nothing.

Have a Blessed Holy Week and a Joyous Easter,

In Christ,

Charlotte

Roll Away the Stone

Friends of Faith:

HE has RISEN! The stone has been rolled away!

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Lk 24: 2

Have we allowed Jesus to roll away the stone from our tomb?

What is the stone that keeps God from entering our tomb?

Is our stone an addiction to work, food, alcoholism, drugs, arguments (with our spouse, etc..), pornography, lying, stealing,  manipulation…..? Are we too proud to let God enter our lives?

What fear keeps us in our tomb and hidden behind the “self” God created us to be?

I believe in the miracle of the Resurrection. I believe if I ask for Jesus’ help he can roll away any stone in my life, allowing me to exit sin and rise to a new life. I believe that His death on the cross and His forgiveness are the miracle designed to set me free me from the bondage of the sins that hold me back from the peace and joy he created for us in the Garden of Eden.

Am I humble enough to let go of my pride and ask for His help and His forgiveness? Will I accept the sufferings in my life as an imitation of His suffering for us on the cross? Will I help to roll away the stones in other people’s lives by forgiving them as He forgave me?

Sometimes being an ordinary sinner is easier than dying to our selfish desires and being transformed into the extraordinary person God has called me to be, His daughter(son), filled with God’s grace. It is much easier to stay behind the stone than it is to roll it away.

“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Col 3: 1-4

Are we afraid that that by spending time with those who know us best our true self will come out?

Jesus: You paid a debt You didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. Roll away the stone that keeps me in the tomb of my own sin. Raise me to living the life You desire for each of your children. Teach me the way to follow the example of Your cross and to die to myself by willingly and patiently serving others as You served me. Give me the courage to avoid temptation and forgive me for my sins. Help me to forgive those who hurt me so that they too can be forgiven (Forgive us our trespasses AS I forgive those who trespass against me). Amen.                   

Do I truly believe that He changed our world for us when he allowed himself to do God’s will and when he stepped out from behind the stone?

Will I step out of my comfort zones and do what God desires me to do? Will I answer His call? Will I live as if I believe?  Do I believe that Christ can roll away ANY stone in my life?

Roll away the stones of fear, unbelief and unforgiveness,

Blessings,

Charlotte

Love is Power

Women of Faith:
When I was growing up I remember dreading this week of the year—it meant more church, more sacrifice, less food and somber meditation.

I don’t quite remember when my attitude towards Holy Week changed. Maybe it took some of my own suffering or maybe I had to experience the power of unconditional love from someone outside of my own family.

But sometime in my late teens and early adult years my attitude changed. I began to look forward to this week of “dying to self,” of appreciating the gift we have been given to experience Christ’s walk in and thru the passion celebration, of experiencing the Power of Love.

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel* will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels. Mk 8:34-37

On Thursday I will participate in the Last Supper—I will be present as we celebrate the very first Eucharistic Mass—when Christ gave us himself as the eternal food so that we would be sustained by Him, in Him and thru Him; fed by His flesh and blood each time we participate at his table in the (universal) Mass which he established to replace the Passover meal and celebration.

Am I willing to lose my life for Him? Will I stoop to the depths of Christ and wash the feet of those who serve me?

“He said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." Jn 13: 14-15

On Friday, Jesus’ death on the cross is the culmination of an attitude of one who does not cry out and who does not flinch against evil. He bears patiently the beatings and the violence of the same world we live in today.

Evil is what happens when people are consumed by fear and hatred. Evil is never content until it has destroyed the pleading and accusing eyes of an innocent victim.

Will I be “Simon” who helped Jesus carry his cross for 650 yards or will I be the bystander yelling insults and mocking Jesus? Who am I crucifying this week by my lack of forgiveness, by my words or by my silent treatment to them?

Or am I strong like Jesus? Do I turn the other cheek and endure the insults and false accusations of others with love and forgiveness?

"The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame." Is 50:4-7

Will I experience a mother’s desire to take away all the pains and sufferings of those I love? Mary’s sorrows as Jesus suffered pain, torture and ultimate death on the cross shows us how to bear our burdens and sufferings.

And here I watch the ultimate power in ultimate love. Because love is not a feeling—love is the action of serving, of giving up everything to serve another without any desire to be repaid, or to receive reward.

Will I become a participant? Or will I only remain as a bystander?

This is what Holy Week is all about: A call to action. A call to conquer evil with love, a call to bear patiently when we are wronged, a call to forgive 70 x 7, a call to serve kindly, a call to courage and perseverance when things don’t go our way and a call to have hope in the power of love.

It is about a Son’s love for his Father; a Mother’s love for her child; and the bridegroom’s love for his bride.

It is not about feeling loved, but how we act out our love.

It is not about saying I’m sorry, but how we forgive those that have wronged us.

It is not about saying we are saved; it is about accepting the responsibility that comes with that relationship with Christ, by how we act (Mt 25: 31-40) because we have accepted the love so freely given to us by Jesus’ death on the cross.

Lord Jesus, the evil which we have allowed into your world must bring you deep sorrow. Help me to follow Your path to power by acting in love. May the sorrows of Your passion and death serve to remind me of the hope and joys that followed in your resurrection. Help each of us to serve with courage and to spread your joy to others. Amen.

May my sadness as I walk with Christ this week become my motivation and the pain of desire to do what I can to serve others in and through love.

And may your hope and desire for heaven be strengthened by the Power of His Love this week,
Charlotte

Love is Greater than Fear

Friends in Faith:

And they waited. And we waited. And we are rewarded. We are rewarded by a love that conquers our fears, a love that achieves our hopes, a love given to us by His grace because we believe.

And all because one man, Jesus, had a love for us greater than the fear of suffering; a love greater than the fear of torture and humiliation; a love greater than the fear of death.

Our patience was/is much less than the patience of Christ’s followers. We know what we are waiting for, Christ’s followers did not, and yet we struggle to wait thru the 40 days of Lent.

Christ’s followers had waited since the days of Adam, Abraham, Noah and Moses. We do not have to wait at all, since Christ’s redemption has already been given to us. Our only waiting actually comes in our searching, in our unbelief, or lack of belief, in what Christ’s death and resurrection means to us as Christians.

We have been given a love to conquer our fear the moment we were baptized. And if we accept and live in His grace we may share in His resurrection.

Just as fire and water our newly blessed thru scripture at the Easter vigil so we are renewed thru living and walking with Christ when we reflect His light in our lives and pour out our self in service to each other, just as He did in His own life for us.

“Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Col 3:1-4
So what is a Love greater than fear?

It is a love that brings someone back to me when I need forgiveness for harsh words, judgmental actions, or unkind deeds.

It is a love that allows me to give my time to care for a sick friend, to stop to say an encouraging word to someone struggling with the loss of a loved one or to stay committed to a spouse who misunderstands or treats me without respect.

It is a love that replaces my fear of loneliness, my fear of suffering, my fear of sickness, my fear of loss, with hope, peace and comfort.

In each of these instances it is the images of the suffering Christ and the risen Christ which gives me the encouragement, the comfort, the hope, and the strength to keep moving forward.

It is the image of Jesus unselfishly hanging on the cross that is my reminder that I am supposed to sacrifice my own needs, my own time, my own wants to serve others. His walk to the cross is my reminder that “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”’ Mat 16:24

And it is the next image of Him, resurrected from the tomb, that turns my fears of not having enough time or money--of earthly things; or my impatient fears of being hurt and bearing more than my “fair” share—into the energy, peace and comfort to unselfishly accept my burdens and continue to move towards His glorious, resurrected, all encompassing, LOVE.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. He is Risen!

Blessings this Easter Season,
Charlotte