My Journey with Holy Week
A Reflection by Christine Jurisich
Entering the Paschal Mystery
Growing up Catholic, I always participated in the practices of Holy Week, known as the most sacred seven-day period of the liturgical year, commemorating the final days of Jesus Christ’s life. Yet, it wasn’t until I began nurturing my spiritual life that I grew to appreciate the depth of each day and the opportunity to stop and be attentive to the Paschal Mystery happening inside of me.
The Paschal Mystery is the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. It is not simply a time to remember and honor something that happened in a faraway time; it is something that is happening within us all the time. There are always times of suffering. There are always times when we are called to let go of attitudes, behaviors, seasons, and even relationships to make way for new opportunities, healthier attitudes, and new ways of being to take root. Spending a week dedicated to reflecting on my own internal deaths and resurrections became a gift I looked forward to each year and treasured.
When Grief Changes Everything
When I lost my son eight years ago, Holy Week became too hard to participate in. For the most part, I put up a wall around my heart during Holy Week, going through the motions and not allowing myself to think too much about the significance of it all. I was living this mystery in the most painful way. I didn’t feel like ritualizing it.
Touching the Wounds
Engaging in Holy Week can be difficult. It’s the invitation to touch Jesus’ wounds—as he asks the disciples to do—which means we have to touch our own. We have to come to terms with our pain and suffering and that of others. Embracing new life during the Paschal Mystery—the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ—is entering into that confusing place where new life is both a beautiful gift and an acknowledgment of the pain it took to get there.
It can feel safer not to touch Jesus’ wounds, and there are seasons of life when it just may be too difficult. I understand that. I have lived it. Yet, I invite you to allow for a gentle noticing that when you stay somewhat distant, new life is not as rich or fully realized or experienced.
The same happens when you head straight into the resurrection and celebrate new life without sitting with the pain of Good Friday or the emptiness of Holy Saturday. The more we are honest about our sufferings—whether from this past year or other times—the more we can move through and realize a profound joy in the resurrected Christ.
Hope in the Present Moment
The whole point of the story of touching the wounds is to understand that God is with us through the darkest, most painful of times. Even when our human minds cannot comprehend, our hearts hold that reality. Hope is not for some moment in the future when all will be well; hope is resting in the faith that our infinitely merciful and powerful God is present in the now. Yet, we are human, and it is difficult not to attach hope to external events and developments.
Returning to Holy Week
With the passage of time and the gift of God’s healing grace, I am once again present to the opportunity this week holds. Spending one whole week slowing down to intentionally notice, reflect, ponder, and ritualize is a gift.
I invite you to find ways to live life a little slower this week. Notice. Reflect. Be open to all this week can hold for you, specifically in the final three days, known as the Easter Triduum.
Walking Through the Triduum
Let Holy Thursday, a time to remember the Last Supper and the washing of the feet, be an invitation to reflect on your vulnerability before God and others, and on service.
Allow Good Friday, a time to remember the passion and death of Jesus, to be an invitation to reflect on your openness to surrender to that which is getting in the way of fully showing up for the life God calls you to live.
Be open to Holy Saturday and the invitation to patiently wait in the emptiness and unknown as we remember Jesus in the tomb.
When you are attentive to Holy Week, the experience of Easter Sunday and celebrating the resurrection can be a time to discover that there is new life already growing in you.
What New Life Really Means
New life does not necessarily mean everything turns out the way you want it to. I miss my son. I’m sure there are relationships, situations, and ways of living that you have had to let go of and are still grieving. New life can mean new growth, new opportunities to find joy and peace, and to embrace God’s grace in the most ordinary yet nourishing ways throughout your day.
A Gentle Blessing
May you be gentle and good to yourself as you reflect on the letting go happening within you or around you.
May you be blessed with an experience of new life on Easter Sunday.
May you appreciate the gift this week can hold for you.
Reflect: How may you participate in Holy Week with intention? What has been your experience in the past?
Did this reflection resonate with you?
We share the month’s theme in Sacred Circles every month. Come to one or come to all. New people are always welcome.