Happy Holy Week

Church of Jesus Christ of the Universe

By Mauro

10 April 2022

Today the Holy Week begins. For forty days, we have prepared ourselves for this passage. It is a passage of resurrection for each one of us, the same passage Jesus went through on the Mount of Olives when He said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”1

In order to be resurrected, each of us must look at death, at the cross in the truth and go through the painful passage. In the truth and in the light God has given to us, we have to know that we must die to ourselves to be resurrected with Christ. For each of us this means that in our spiritual passages, which certainly cannot be compared with those of Jesus, and yet are like His, we must pray, ask for help and go through them alone.

Today’s Feast2 shows the contradiction in the behaviour of the people, who first praised Him and a few days later shouted, “Crucify him!”3 The readings say clearly that Satan sifted them; Jesus said it to Peter, but Satan sifted all of them, the whole of Jerusalem. Then Jesus told Peter, “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”4 Yet, it seems that Peter was to be the first to betray Him when he denied knowing Jesus for three times.

What we ought to learn from these teachings is that we must not judge ourselves or the others. Today we may say something against God, against the path, against the community, against everything we reject, shouting, “Crucify him!” Rather, we must allow each of us and others to be resurrected through our passage from death to life.

If you have read the Passion in the Gospel of Luke5, you noticed that all those who had followed and shouted, were touched when they saw Him die on the Cross; they understood, beginning from the centurion.

Here I would like to add that in the Passion according to Luke, unlike the other Evangelists, there is the excerpt from the Gospel on service and domination: “Whoever wants to be the greatest among you, make himself the servant of all.”6 If you take a closer look at these readings, the whole dimension of the Church, of the people, is represented through the different personalities. They are not like Jesus, not like the Apostles, but each one has his own task. We see Joseph of Arimathea, who was righteous because he disagreed with the Council. He had not preached Jesus, nor done anything important, but he was righteous.7 The centurion, who was a soldier, became a righteous man.8 Everyone goes through his own process. There is also another aspect, which is that of Pilate and Herod who were enemies, but listening to the same spirit, they agreed to kill Jesus9 even though it seemed that Pilate wanted to defend Jesus.

Thus, when we say: “Whoever wants to be the greatest among you, make himself the servant of all,” this is the path everyone ought to go according to their own identity, their possibilities and vocations. Those who want to be servants of all, must act like Jesus, as Isaiah says: “The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue … I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”10 And He continued His work until the death on the Cross.11

This passage is meant for all of us who are called to pave the way. Look, we are those who tear each other’s beards off; we are those who hit each other’s backs. We are also the people of whom we heard that they changed when they saw how Jesus accepted the Cross.12 Therefore, those who want to be servants of all must go through this passage: dying for the benefit of others, dying with joy. For this, there is a preparation, which is what we have done until now and that we can continue this week. To have this joy and to be able to be totally immersed in the will of God, it is necessary to pray and ask for help, but afterwards, out of love for the others, we must go through this passage.

We have come to this time, giving great importance to silence: silence of all voices, of all justifications, of one’s own reasons, of the reasons of others. May God give to each one and all of us together the light for our personal vocation, for the vocation of the Church and of the Foundation. I think it is a great Easter passage in these strong times. Let us be personally resurrected so that the people are resurrected, and thus enabled to face all the events that are ahead of us. I wish you a Happy Holy Week.

May Mary Most Holy give us Her blessing; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

1 See Luke 22,42

2 Palm Sunday; Gospel of Luke 19,28-40

3 See Luke 23,21

4 See Luke 22,31-32

5 See Luke 23,26-49

6 See Luke 22,24-30

7 See Luke 23,50-53

8 See Luke 23, 47

9 See Luke 23,12

10 See Isa 50,4-7

11 See Phil 2,6-8