Next weekend begins Holy Week, the most solemn week in the life of the Church; the week in which we are invited to walk deeply in the mystery of God’s love and mercy made manifest in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.
I encourage you to try and set some time aside to pray and reflect on that mystery of Christ and remember how it plays out in your life.
That kind of remembering has a special meaning. It is not just a recalling of historical events; it is personally entering into the event and knowing that the mystery played out so long ago is now truly being played out today in your life.
That kind of “remembering” is known in Greek as “anamneses” – an effective and causative remembering in which the very event remembered becomes alive and present in the life of the one or the community.
It is what “sacrament” is all about. When we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, we know that mystery is once more made available to me. In the Eucharist it is “the real presence” of Jesus in his saving work.
When Jews observe Passover, they know that in recalling the Exodus event that freedom from slavery won by God for Israel is truly made active and present in one’s own life.
Holy Week and Passover are always linked together, for the covenant with God is once more made with both Jews and Christians; each in the sharing of a sacred meal.
Fr. Steve Adrian
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