J
JReducation
Guest
As I read many of the threads and posts on TC Forum, I find some of them very enjoyable and informative, but I also find some to be very troublesome. I thought I’d share my two cents with everyone.
In my neck of the woods, Holy Week is a time that pay extra attention to penance, reconciliation with God and with others. It’s a special time for quiet, prayer and for sharing our spiritual journey with one another. One of the things that our Holy Father Francis always insisted that we do all the time, but especially during Holy Week, was to look for the good in our brothers and sisters, the good in the world around us, and the presence of the Crucified Lord in our neighbors. It was a time when he strongly encouraged (almost mandated) the brothers and sisters to exercise special kindness, gentleness and humility toward anyone whom we believed to be in sin or in error.
Francis taught us a very interesting approach to Holy Week. His approach was to focus on our lack of humility, lack of detachment from self, and lack of charity toward God and man. The mission that he gave us was to be gentle mirrors of the love that Christ pours out on the cross; through our gentle manner of speaking, teaching, working and being others would see the gentility of Christ on the Cross.
He also had a very Trinitarian vision of Holy Week. In all of his prayers, poems, rules and admonitions, he pointed to the Father. The Crucified Christ is the means to the Father. One must crucify himself with Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Francis taught us that to crucify ourselves with Christ we must shift our focus from the neighbor to ourselves when it concerns sin and reprobation and from ourselves to the neighbor when it concerns generosity and good will.
Finally, Francis reminds us that all have sinned. Therefore, no one can point the finger to the neighbor. It is the fraternal duty of all to walk alongside his or her neighbor, supporting each other to conquer sin. Together, in one brotherhood, we offer to God our love and penance.
What I found missing on this week’s threads is a joint reflection on the Cross. I also believe that we need to pause for a moment, stop thinking about rules, rubrics, rituals, dogmas, doctrines and other things, that are important, but can be addressed at any time during the year. Holy Week comes only once a year. Even though we should focus on the Cross throughout our lives, this is the one week of the year when the Catholic Church walks the journey to the Cross together. This year, we’re especially blessed, because the Orthodox, the Catholic and Jewish calendars coincide. We are all remembering God’s mercy; together . . . whether we’re recalling liberation from the slavery in Egypt or liberation from the slavery of sin, the bottom line is that we are united in one proclamation, God is merciful and dearly loves his people.
I’d like to invite others to share their own spiritual journey for this week. I know that there are many traditions out there to celebrate this week. Some are universal traditions of the Church, some are ethnic traditions, and some are traditions of different religious families and different schools of spirituality. Nonetheless, they are part of Catholic Tradition. It would be great to share those and learn from each other.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
In my neck of the woods, Holy Week is a time that pay extra attention to penance, reconciliation with God and with others. It’s a special time for quiet, prayer and for sharing our spiritual journey with one another. One of the things that our Holy Father Francis always insisted that we do all the time, but especially during Holy Week, was to look for the good in our brothers and sisters, the good in the world around us, and the presence of the Crucified Lord in our neighbors. It was a time when he strongly encouraged (almost mandated) the brothers and sisters to exercise special kindness, gentleness and humility toward anyone whom we believed to be in sin or in error.
Francis taught us a very interesting approach to Holy Week. His approach was to focus on our lack of humility, lack of detachment from self, and lack of charity toward God and man. The mission that he gave us was to be gentle mirrors of the love that Christ pours out on the cross; through our gentle manner of speaking, teaching, working and being others would see the gentility of Christ on the Cross.
He also had a very Trinitarian vision of Holy Week. In all of his prayers, poems, rules and admonitions, he pointed to the Father. The Crucified Christ is the means to the Father. One must crucify himself with Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Francis taught us that to crucify ourselves with Christ we must shift our focus from the neighbor to ourselves when it concerns sin and reprobation and from ourselves to the neighbor when it concerns generosity and good will.
Finally, Francis reminds us that all have sinned. Therefore, no one can point the finger to the neighbor. It is the fraternal duty of all to walk alongside his or her neighbor, supporting each other to conquer sin. Together, in one brotherhood, we offer to God our love and penance.
What I found missing on this week’s threads is a joint reflection on the Cross. I also believe that we need to pause for a moment, stop thinking about rules, rubrics, rituals, dogmas, doctrines and other things, that are important, but can be addressed at any time during the year. Holy Week comes only once a year. Even though we should focus on the Cross throughout our lives, this is the one week of the year when the Catholic Church walks the journey to the Cross together. This year, we’re especially blessed, because the Orthodox, the Catholic and Jewish calendars coincide. We are all remembering God’s mercy; together . . . whether we’re recalling liberation from the slavery in Egypt or liberation from the slavery of sin, the bottom line is that we are united in one proclamation, God is merciful and dearly loves his people.
I’d like to invite others to share their own spiritual journey for this week. I know that there are many traditions out there to celebrate this week. Some are universal traditions of the Church, some are ethnic traditions, and some are traditions of different religious families and different schools of spirituality. Nonetheless, they are part of Catholic Tradition. It would be great to share those and learn from each other.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF