Palm Sunday 2019 - Sights, Sounds, Silences, Smells, and Sentiments of Holy Week

Today, Palm Sunday, begins Holy Week.  This week is filled with many vivid moments—sights and sounds and silences, smells and sentiments. Today, we hear crowds singing praises to Jesus as he enters Jerusalem as Messiah, and how those praises all too quickly turn into jeering and mocking and calling for crucifixion. 

On Monday, you might even smell the fragrance of aromatic oil anointing the feet of Jesus and hear the spite in the betrayer’s voice, that to anoint Jesus is a waste.

On Tuesday, you might detect how the conviction in St. Peter’s voice to “follow the Lord” anywhere is sadly replaced with fear and denial. The whispers of conspirators and the sound of silver coins are heard on Wednesday.  And On Thursday, perhaps you’ll come to hear the quiet lapping of water, when the Master washes the feet of his disciples and the sound of breaking bread and pouring wine at the Last supper.

Throughout the week, IF you listen, you’ll hear the sounds of crying, whipping, hammering, the cries of crucifixion, prayers offered to the Father, the weeping of a sorrowful mother and the deafening silence of the tomb.

The sounds of Holy Week are piercing and thunderous. Jesus cries out in a loud voice as he gives up His spirit. The curtain of the sanctuary is ripped in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, boulders split, tombs opened.

Since this  week is filled with so much sound, we are called to do a lot of listening.  Listening to the narratives of Jesus’ final days and hours and moments this week. In this week called “Holy”, grow quiet and Listen!

Turn off the televisions, the iphones, and computers. Log off, and open the book of books. Read and enter into the most important drama. If you can, join us for daily Mass to hear the drama unfold.
It was the practice of many homes to turn off all the radios and televisions, especially on Good Friday, as a way of saying this is not a day for entertainment, but a day of turning my heart to what matters most: sincere repentance and reflection upon the savior’s redemptive self-sacrifice.

If you’ve never attended the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday or the Easter Vigil, consider attending this year.  The Church’s morning prayer will be prayed during the Triduum at 10am. In such a noisy world, with so many distractions we need these moments to listen to the Word.

If all we listen to are the sounds of the world: the bitterness, the resentment, the violence, and political argument, our lives will soon only echo the values of the world.  We listen to God’s Word—the sound of outpoured love, so that our lives may echo and resound with his beating Sacred Heart.

This week, I encourage you to make time to read through the passion narratives again.  Perhaps pick the part of the passion that resonates with you most. Perhaps, return to that moment, of Simon carrying the heavy cross at Jesus' side, or the hope of the good thief, pleading with Jesus to remember Him, as he comes into His kingdom.  A day shouldn’t go by during this Holiest Week of the Church year, without spending quality time in prayerful reflection upon Jesus’ Passion.

Where will you incline your ear this week?  To the sounds of the world, or, like St. John at the Last Supper, to the savior’s breast,  to the beating heart of the Word made flesh?
 
During the first Holy Week, two thousand years ago, Jesus achieved victory over sin and evil.  During this Holy Week, he wants to extend that victory ever more deeply into our hearts. May we bring our hearts to him in our participation in liturgy, or personal prayer and meditation on Scripture, in fasting, and good works this Holy Week, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.