Is Holy Week Still Holy?

By Michael J. Willis, Guest commentary
April 1, 2004

I worked in a small rural parish in southwest Wisconsin for six years almost 20 years ago now. It was an interesting place. It was a dry town that everyone would laughingly say was, "wet around the edges."

There were about 5,000 people living there back then and I believe we counted 29 churches. Assuming everyone went to church, that's one church for every 172 people. I mention this because they had a custom in that town on Good Friday, at least before the giant retail store arrived. From noon until three in the afternoon, the town closed. I'm guessing that's not true anymore.

When I went to church last Sunday, I brought a load of things for the Chrism Mass to the Cathedral in Sioux City. Never one to make two trips when one will kill me, I was carrying too much and was having a hard time getting through the door. While I struggled with my load, two older ladies were patiently waiting to enter the church. I overheard one say to the other, "do you know what day Easter is this year?" I was gratified that her friend told her with some confidence, "it's April 11." I wondered to myself how many folks know instinctively when Easter is?

I heard this morning on the radio that the new movie, The Passion of the Christ, had fallen from its number one ranking at the box office. There are differing opinions on this film, but it certainly serves to remind us of the events of Holy Week. The educated people who lived at the time of Jesus often committed the Torah (the first five books of our Bible) to memory.

When they observed the horrific events of Good Friday, it would have been difficult for them to forget the words of Deuteronomy 21: "God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree."

In the earliest days of the church, the cross was a scandal and a stumbling block precisely because the Jews considered it a sign of God's wrath. It didn't even become a Christian symbol until generations had passed. Is it possible that we have forgotten in this age what the cross means?

As we approach our Christian high holy days beginning with Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion on April 4, we are invited to remember the cross as a different kind of instrument. Jesus was willing to accept the "curse" humankind so richly deserved. Jesus submitted humbly, like a lamb, and did not open his mouth. He becomes the Paschal Mystery. He shows us the loophole in our limited human understanding: the paradox that death in faith and obedience leads to life!

In the ultimate act of self-emptying that is the Incarnation, God becoming human, he willingly accepted our human destiny, even to death, and thereby showed us the way to life. Where he goes, we can follow.

Is Holy Week still holy? On Monday, April 5, the diocese will celebrate the Chrism Mass with Archbishop Hanus of Dubuque at the Cathedral of the Epiphany. On Thursday evening, April 8, the Sacred Triduum of our salvation begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper. It continues through Good Friday of the Lord's Passion, into the celebration of the Easter Vigil on Saturday night. The celebration of Easter Sunday is so grand in our tradition that we need 50 days to do it right, and then we do it again every Sunday of the year. Consider the power of the cross, of new fire, of water and of the empty tomb and truly celebrate Holy Week this year. It isn't just another week, now, is it?