Although it is at the very heart of our faith, the story of the suffering and death of Jesus is recounted [in its entirety] only twice a year … and then in the same week: on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday.
We encounter Jesus in this story, in His Passion, as in no other passage from the Gospels. Is He ever closer to us in our humanity? Is He ever closer to us than in His being betrayed, rejected, and abandoned? Is He ever closer to us than in His physical and emotional suffering?
St. Augustine said, “If we do not come to meet Jesus in His suffering, how can we hope to recognize Him when He comes to meet us in ours?”
Today and over the course of this week, recall some of Jesus’ own words, as he bares His heart to us and invites us to enter it: “I say to you, one of you will betray me…” “Take and eat: this is my body, given for you…” “Take and drink: this is my blood, poured out for you…” “You will deny me three times…” “My soul is sorrowful even to death: watch with me for an hour…”
And, while we hear the echo of His words, let us recall the responses of those who were with Jesus in those last hours … those whose words and deeds might sometimes be our own: “Betray you, Lord? Certainly not me!” “I do not even know the man.” “A cock crowed … and Peter went out and wept.” And on the positive side: “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
All of these words, phrases, and images are hearty food for prayer and reflection today and in the week ahead.
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We enter the week we call Holy in order to remember, to celebrate, and to meet Jesus in His suffering, in His dying, and in His rising. May the story of His Passion refresh and restore our faith in his love, poured out so generously for us. May the words and the deeds (especially the sacrifice) of Jesus, embedded in our hearts, lead us to meet Him (soon) in the peace and the joy of Easter.
