Fr Marco Lazzaron
oly Week, the most important week in the liturgical year, is opening before us, it is the fundamental cornerstone of our faith. This is a week in which we are called to take steps that lead us back to that relationship of harmony between God and His creation, a relationship that sin had disrupted.
In this time, we are shown where humanity can rediscover God—and that place is the Cross. God Himself makes His presence known without asking where we are. By placing Himself with outstretched arms on the wood of the Cross, Jesus Himself responds to the restlessness of humanity.
He gives the Eucharist at the Last Supper, as we have read in the Gospel, and on Holy Thursday we relive that moment, which takes place in a context of betrayal (remember: not just the one of Judas, but Peter, …, and ours too!)
On Easter morning, with the Resurrection, that harmonious balance which Creation was meant to bring about is fulfilled. To accomplish all this, Jesus Himself passed through suffering, because He is in love with humanity. He did not come to take away this dimension of suffering, but by passing through it, He gives it meaning.
To contemplate the Cross and fix our gaze on the Crucified is certainly something we should make time for in these days. In His wounds, we can find the meaning of situations in our lives that may have seemed impossible to understand when we were going through them. In that, Christ who had the courage to forgive, mediating this gift before the Father, we too can ask for the same grace.
Have a blessed Holy Week and a good journey toward the Easter of the Resurrection!
Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ, You became human and took on the realities of humanity in our world. During Your life on earth, You gave hope, perspective, and salvation to many. Help me to enter fully into your Passion through my Lenten promises, always reminding me that You went to the desert, the garden, and the cross for me.
Give me faith, faith in your endless mercy, your boundless forgiveness, your unfathomable goodness. Let me never run away from you but return to you again and again, asking you to be my Lord, my Shepherd, my Stronghold, and my Refuge. Amen”.