Make Holy the “Holy Week”

Holy Week is the high point of the Lenten season. It begins on Palm Sunday – the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – up to the great Easter Feast. The greatest focus of the week is the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. It is a very sacred time of commemorating and remembering the redemptive sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Creed describes five acts of Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice: He suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and descended to the dead. Jesus, then, “removes our subjective guilt by bringing us God’s pardon and forgiveness, and He restores the objective moral order broken by our sins through His loving act of reparation” (Catechism for Filipino Catholics).

What does Jesus’ redemption demand of us? In this sacred time of the week, we are asked to revisit our own sinfulness. We are called to a radical conversion of heart, that is, trusting in God, our loving Father, who grounds our own innate dignity and worth, as well as that of all persons, and calls us to follow Christ His Son in self-giving service and simplicity of life. We are asked to die with Christ from our sins and, with contrite heart, rise with Him by fulfilling our baptismal promises, joyfully accepting daily trials for the love of God, and unselfishly serving all who need our assistance.

How does Jesus help us toward this radical conversion? Jesus leads us to basic trust in God as our heavenly Father, to a deeper and more authentic self-respect, to acceptance of others as His beloved children, and to authentic hierarchy of values in our everyday life. There is no sinner, no matter how great, who cannot experience God’s grace of forgiveness if he really wants to repent. God is more powerful when He forgives sins than creating the world out of nothing, for God’s mercy and grace will always surpass over man’s sinfulness.

But God, who is so Powerful, cannot also give His mercy and grace without our cooperation. We need to cooperate with the Father who sends His Son to redeem us from our sins and to give meaning and purpose to our lives through the fellowship inspired by the Holy Spirit. Jesus has already made the “Holy Week” holy for us. Now, it is our turn to make ourselves holy and worthy for His redemptive sacrifice in this sacred time of the week. (Sem. Junel E. Bustamante)