I doubt any of you will forget Palm Sunday and Holy Week the Year of Our Lord 2020.
These are tough times. Some are suffering. Some are dying. Some have great fear and anxiety. All of us have lost our freedoms due to the pandemic and the fear. No one knows what the next week will bring, much less the time between now and Mother’s Day, May 17. That is the date I have chosen for my horizon. What happens between now and Mother’s Day will shape our earthly lives forever. Most of the damage will have peaked by then. We will be different. We don’t know how. But we will never be the same. The unique solution for Christians is to trust in Jesus, and unite our sufferings to his Passion and Death. Pay close attention to the scriptures this week. Know your own sufferings. Unite yourself to Jesus this week.
We continue to improve our ability to live-stream our Masses and prayer services, thanks to Bob Karasch, Elizabeth Carrillo and the Sisters, Discipulas de Jesus. Yesterday we added our transmissions to YouTube, under Sacred Heart Catholic Church Austin.
Things are bad and getting worse. So, why do we have hope? Today’s readings, and all the readings in Holy Week are the foundation for our Hope. Listen to the words in the Mass for the Dead, from the Preface,
Indeed for your faithful, Lord,
life is changed not ended,
and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust,
an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.
Do you believe this? The Word of God has particular importance to us this week. This is our homework assignment this week. Don’t waste Holy Week.
Isaiah said in that first reading,
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
We are all sharing difficult times, unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetimes. Now is the time for Catholic Christians, with understandable fear and anxiety, to listen to the Word of God, and trust in that Word. Do not let fear overcome you.
Isaiah said,
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Strengthen one another. I will pray for you. I need your prayers. We all need the Words of Holy Week and Easter. Strengthen one another.
And, take your fears to the Lord, as we will all do now. Even though we cannot be together, please pray with us, knowing that God will not abandon us.