Holy Week Message 2001
John Michael Talbot

Brothers and Sisters,

We are entering the Holy of Holies of ancient Christian Liturgy. We are entering Holy Week. This week takes us through the final events of the life of Jesus Christ that lead to the institution of the Holy Eucharist on during the Jewish Passover meal on Holy Thursday, the trial and crucifixion before the Jews and the Roman occupation on Good Friday, and the wonderful resurrection on Easter Sunday. But it is not just a journey for Jesus and those who lived long ago. It is a journey for us who live today as well.

During this Holy Week I urge you to take time to really meditate on the mysteries of our Faith as manifested perfectly in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Take time to really pray and enter into contemplation. Then apply it all to your own life in the here and now.

Do we sometimes betray or deny the Lord with Judas, Simon Peter, and all the disciples except John, the youngest? Through His grace, let's try to avoid this sin. But if so, do we remain obstinately in our sorrow of sin with Judas, without really being ready to change, or do we humble our hearts and spirits with Peter, simply and honestly admit our fault, and then be ready to change and go forward with Christ once more? It is not enough to simply be sorry. We must really repent, or be ready for a radical change for the better in Christ.

Do we take the time and make the effort to go out of the way to the Upper Room with Jesus to celebrate the Passover in the Eucharist and our own churches? Do we rest our head upon His breast with John, to hear His final, and most intimate teachings? This is the reality offered in our Liturgies in our churches if we have the right faith and mental outlook to make it so.

Do we go out to the garden to intimately pray with Him when the meetings and religious gatherings are over? Do we stay awake even when we are sleepy and tired? This is the call to private prayer and devotion, leading us through meditation on the life and words of Jesus, to the pure contemplative grace of simply Being with He who IS.

Do we stay with Christ even during the public humiliation before religious experts and government officials? Many saints were not fully received by the whole Church during their own lifetime. Are we faithful even when popular opinion turns against Him?

Do we lovingly take His sacred body down from the cross and prepare Him for burial, even though He is not well to do enough to have His own tomb, and the people are ready to forget Him and move on? Sometimes the gospel is in the paper, and on the front cover of major periodicals, sometimes it no longer sells, and is no longer "news." How doe we handle Jesus when He is out of vogue?

Lastly, do we dare believe the message of those who are not even leaders when they say that they have actually seen Him risen from the dead, even though this seems to defy the logic and common sense of our most wise and respected among us? Can we find Him in the lives of all, even the most insignificant among us? He is there if we look with faith and love. Do we dare believe that, even during our times of greatest sorrow and loss, there is new life just waiting to be uncovered? More importantly, when we lose even what we think is our very self, do we believe that it is especially there that God has our deeper being and truest self in Him just waiting to be resurrected, taken out from the tomb, and lived fully for all Eternity? Death to self is not the end. It is just the beginning for those who have faith in this paradox manifested fully in Christ.

These are only the first few lessons from the Passion we are preparing to reenact and celebrate during this most holy of weeks. This is a sacred time, a holy time. Please do not let it simply "pass you by." Let the angel of death that comes from forgetting God pass you by, but do not let God pass you by. He is "passing by" this week. Please make sure you go out and greet Him when He does! Then let Him take you to the deepest place, and your truest being in Him, through these wonderful parables of faith told through the actual life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Have a most blessed Holy Week and Easter in Him!

John Michael Talbot