And so Holy Week begins

And so Holy Week begins. Strange, different, but still holy.

Here are some words from the Prayer after Communion from today's Mass for Palm Sunday, as I have just celebrated it:

Nourished with these sacred gifts we humbly beseech you, O Lord,

that, just as through the death of your Son you have brought us to hope for what we believe,

so by his Resurrection you may lead us to where you call.

Through Christ our Lord.

"To hope for what we believe" and "may lead us to where you call".   I like these two phrases a lot. They are both dynamic, by which I mean they both lead us onwards in the Lord . Hope is the great virtue that enables us to move on into the future, based on what we believe. I often say how Christian faith is not wishful thinking, because it is based on what we believe to be true, namely the death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 

This is one way of understanding what this week is about - to renew or even restore our faith and hope, or rather our hope flowing from our faith. How important this is in our present circumstances! As Pope Francis said in his wonderful meditation at his blessing of the world a week ago, we are in that boat with the Apostles, being tossed around on the waves of the Sea of Galilee. He may appear to be asleep, but He is with us - that is the important thing.

And then to be led "where you call". We have not arrived, any of us. Jesus always calls us on.

 I discovered this big time back in 1984 when I attended the 1st Worldwide Retreat for Priests in Rome with 6 or 7,000 brother priests. A life-changer for me, it challenged me in all sorts of ways, as I was getting a little complacent, a bit self-satisfied after five years in the priesthood. The retreat was entitled "The Call to Holiness" - this was to be seen not as something we had done and dusted at ordination but rather as an every day, ongoing, life-long call, to follow our Master humble and cross-bearing in obedience to and praise of the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I pray that this week may stir you in whatever way the Lord wishes and you need. May it console and comfort you in these present times and in any particular situations in which you find yourself.  May we deepen our faith and hope and surrender ourselves, to be led where He calls. 

The photo is from the Second Retreat in 1990 - so somewhere down there is me...