Holy Week 2016 begins

“And, so it begins,” as the saying goes. We begin Holy Week. “Behold the Bridegroom!” But, the Bridegroom is not dressed in clothes of fine linen. Rather, the Bridegroom is dressed in bloody clothes, holding the false hyssop scepter in his hands. We are reminded that, in his first coming, many of the virgins were not ready. Only five of the ten virgins had the oil of the Holy Spirit in their lives that allowed them to recognize that Jesus Christ was the Lord for whom they had been waiting.

What we often fail to recognize is just how many of us would have been among the five virgins who had no oil. All too many of us would have reacted the same way as many of the scribes and Pharisees. I hear people speak of how they wished that they had lived in the time of Jesus so that they might have seen his miracles. I would rather respond that blessed are we that we did not live in the times of Jesus. We might very well have missed the signs of the Kingdom. We might very well have chosen the wrong path, the path of Judas.

But, because we have lived later, we have had the benefit of receiving an inheritance and the witness of the saints. And so, we believe. We believe without the struggle of wondering whether the temple authorities are right, or whether Jesus is right. We are opposed today, but it is from outside. From inside, we have support for our belief. And, so, we are blessed. Blessèd are they who have believed, but have not seen, as Our Lord Jesus Himself said. Blessèd are we that we did not live in the times of Our Lord, and so have not had to contend with what the early believers had to contend. Blessèd are we that the saints support us and the Church upholds us.

We celebrate this Holy Week on the foundation stones of the apostles, prophets, and saints who have made it possible for us to believe with significantly less turmoil than those early Christians. Blèssed are we. Blèssed be the Bridegroom.