Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion 2021: Bulletin Column, Cover Art

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Dear Followers of Jesus,

This year we will celebrate Triduum 2021 with simplicity. According to guidelines from the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops, the liturgies for these sacred days are to remain simple and limited in ritual in order to follow safety protocols during the pandemic.  

On Holy Thursday, April 1 at 5:30 pm, we will not wash feet or have any processions. There will be no altar servers and no Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. We will continue to celebrate the Eucharist with the bare bones as we have in this past year, including no hymnals and with safe distancing. 

On Good Friday, April 2 at 3 pm, we will not have the Veneration of the Cross, but we will adore the cross in our seats as a community. We must continue this year with safety precautions.

On Holy Saturday, April 3 at 8 pm, we will not bless a new fire outdoors, but we will bless the Paschal Candle in the church. We will proclaim only three Old Testament scriptures and we will not bless ourselves with Holy Water. The same safety precautions will override much of this sacred liturgy this year. 

Unfortunately, in this year of pandemic, our numbers are still limited for in-person prayer. Perhaps, watching the live-stream on our website may increase our desire to live our faith in the world, but nothing really takes the place of worshipping with others in Holy Week. At least this year, we can actually celebrate Holy Week with people unlike last year. 

As Holy Week begins, the scriptures of Palm Sunday reveal to us a feast of the senses. We hear the crowd singing, “Hosana!” They push their way through a crowd to see Jesus. We listen to a woman break open an alabaster jar of oil to anoint the feet of the Lord. We can almost smell the healing of that outpouring of devotion. We take into our hearts the reverence and love of her longing for Jesus. We hear the whispers of betrayal. We can recognize them within our own lives. We can almost smell the bread Jesus breaks for his disciples and we can nearly taste the wine he shares in his desire for communion with us. 

There is the cross on Jesus’ shoulders as he bears the weight of our lives and sins. We feel the confusion of the disciples to stay awake in the garden and the weight of their fear and potential grief even in our sleepy eyes. We can hear the lots being cast for Jesus’ garments. We sense the sky darken and the world waiting for something new to happen. We smell the dead body being carried to the grave. We feel the weight of the stone being rolled over the tomb. We all understand what it means to wait and long for new life. 

I invite you into these important moments in our liturgical year even if you must pray at home. The events of this week remain vital for the growth of faith within our lives and the survival of the Church and of our community. 

Holy Week liturgies are not only about the past. These liturgies help us see that God’s work continues in and through us. Grace is active in our lives. God is still redeeming the world in every action of our lives, how we think and perceive, what we stand for, and the commitments that we live in the world. God’s grace is acting upon our world so that we may all turn to Christ Jesus and know him as our Savior and Redeemer. 

Holy Week liturgies surround us with the big story of our salvation. This meaningful journey is far deeper than our own daily routines or even the hopes we carry deep within our hearts. This story helps us makes sense out of our suffering, the turmoil of our relationships and the illusions out of which we live. Faith transforms us. Faith is lived with a deep and passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Holy Week outlines our relationship with Christ, that we die to ourselves and live in him. Jesus is the container of meaning for us, not politics or our national parties, not where we went to high school or the cool car we drive. The container of our lives is the Paschal Mystery, where we can live far beyond the limits that we put on ourselves. 

Holy Week frees us from the fear of change and even death. We believe that Jesus prepares a home for us in heaven. Holy Week forms our lives, our hearts, our consciences, so that we will recognize our path in Jesus Christ. He prepares for us a place far beyond this earth and he will come back to bring us home with him. Meanwhile, we learn to live his love by lifting up people who most need us on earth. 

Holy Week is a blueprint for us to follow and trace over again in our earthly lives, even during a pandemic, all the way home to his side. 

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2021: Bulletin Cover, Column

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Dear Followers of Jesus,

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

We read this familiar line in today’s gospel from John 12:20-33. It is a sentiment that we cannot overlook in this season of Lent. In fact, it is the core of our prayer in this holy season. We must learn how to die to ourselves and live in Christ. But what does that mean for us? How do we understand dying to self? 

Humility is the path to faith. I learn this profound understanding from many people who are in recovery. Unless people learn to die to their own addictions, passions, and destructive behavior, they will never understand the Holy Spirit within them. Our over-inflated egos are very destructive. We don’t always get our way. We are not always entitled to the things we think we should have. Genuine humility is a gift from prayer. Prayer opens us up to view life in a new way. When we pray, we realize we are not the center of the world. Prayer expands our notions of life and that we are part of God’s plan in the world. This is truly liberating for all people, to learn how to die to self and live in Christ Jesus. 

Fear keeps us from change. I remember when I ministered at Sacred Heart in 1984-87, I visited a young man in a nursing home who had just survived a motorcycle accident. He was completely paralyzed. As it turns out, we were both the same age, around 29. I was so frightened to go into his room. I was so fearful to face such suffering. 

I slowly ambled into his room and introduced myself. He could barely speak. He didn’t need me to tell him any pious thoughts or flimsy notions of God. We struggled to communicate. After a few minutes of shared silence, he said to me. “I am the one who is completely paralyzed, so why are you so afraid?” I will never forget that moment. I hold on to his comment to me with dear life even after all of these years later. I was so afraid to just be a real person to him. I was really facing my own life in this encounter. It was not his letting go, his absolute suffering that frightened me, but rather it was the possibility of change and things being taken away in my own life. Encountering my own control and fear of suffering really opened me up to a deeper life of prayer and entrusting my life to God. I will always remember him. 

Resistance is toxic to our spiritual growth. Conversion to a greater reliance on God is lifelong. We are called and challenge to die to self so that God can bring us greater joy, healing and purpose in our lives. In today’s gospel, we hear that we are to lose our life in Christ. One of the lessons we learn in the Lenten season and in the spiritual life is that we must allow God to be God in our lives, because God is God, and we aren’t. We don’t redeem ourselves. We are not the source of forgiveness. We can’t view the world believing we are at the center of it and still believe in God’s loving plan for our own lives. 

In today’s gospel, our resistance can stop our spiritual change and growth when we hear about the grain of wheat. How can we view the Lenten season as a source of new life in our own hearts? How can the grain of wheat die and rise, that is our very own lives in Jesus Christ? How can we learn to listen to Christ Jesus in this Lenten season so to grow in humility, faith and love? So, what needs to die in you to discover a deeper, more abundant faith in Jesus Christ?

God give you peace, 

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor