Deacon Tom Anthony

THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

My Brothers,

 Come let us enter Jerusalem processing behind our savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a triumphant return to Zion as Jesus is recognized for what he is: The Messiah and The Savior of the world. In the beginning, it is a transformation of sorts. It serves as a relief from the crosses that we have been bearing throughout this Lenten Season. We have walked the Passion of our Lord Christ with these crosses, these crosses that have been created out of our sins and fallen nature. Christ has shared in the heaviness, pain, and sorrows that we have caused. He has walked with us the entire way. At times, he has helped us with our burdens. Other times we have thrown down our crosses and became one of those who whipped and tormented him along the way to Calvary as we chose to ignore his divinity and embrace sin again.

Now we are invited to glorify him and love him completely, hailing him as our Lord and our King. Then, the mood will suddenly change. What starts are a celebration and recognition becomes something darker. This is no real celebration or welcome relief from our Lenten Journey. It is a demonstration of the ultimate betrayal that all of us are partakers in. The storm clouds part for a moment then swallow the sun until there is only darkness. We are headlong into the Suffering and Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Holy Week has begun and all of our thoughts, actions, and prayers need to be intensified around this final week before the Easter Joy. Even though the end might be in sight, it is here that we must open ourselves up further to the realizations of our sinful nature and to the sufferings that Christ experienced for us and because of us.

Holy Week is the most important week in the Liturgical Calendar leading up to the highest celebration in the Universal Church: The Easter Joy, The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To truly experience it the way the Church intended for us to experience it and to become further united to Jesus Christ, we must make this celebration the main focus of our entire week. Whatever we did before to make this Lenten Season special and memorable must be intensified. Christ must be at the center of our thoughts and actions from the moment we wake up until we fade off into sleep at night. Christ suffered and died for us so that we may receive eternal life. Can we not give him the attention and appreciation that act in itself demands as recompense?

What is ironic about this challenge is that, just like the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we will again be benefactors of all the actions that we do this week even though we are doing them to express our love to our god. That is how much God loves us: even when we are doing something in order to give thanks to him, we are receiving so much more in return. In fact, it can be argued that we are receiving everything in return! Remember: God does not benefit whatsoever from his relationship with us. As his children he does everything for us. This is unequivocal and cannot be denied. To be receptors of this love we only need to recognize our birthright and act accordingly.

So, to all of my Brothers and Sisters through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us all rise up together and adjoin ourselves again to the Suffering Christ during this Passion Sunday and throughout this Holy Week to live once again what Christ lived and experience a transformation much like the one our savior did that wonderful morning three days after his death.

Deacon Tom