Remember Me, Jesus
This is the week that changed the world! We are at the threshold of the holiest days on our Liturgical Calendar, the Triduum. I remember our family going to all of the liturgies at the parish where I grew up. I know my family made many sacrifices so we could be there, for which I'm grateful. I was always amazed and in awe of the sights, sounds, and smells in these liturgies.
And now, as an adult, I have new memories to associate with Holy Week. Its been about two and a half weeks since I have returned from a two-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This pilgrimage has changed my life forever! If you ever have the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, GO!
Some of the places we went to and encountered that we will be experiencing this week were the Upper Room, the place where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, where he washed the feet of his apostles, and where the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. We celebrated Mass at Gethsemane, at the spot where Jesus had his agony, and we saw the Mount of Olives. We visited Caiaphas' home and the place where Peter denied Jesus three times called Gallicantu (cock crows). We prayed the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa (the Way of the Cross), the actual path that Jesus took while carrying his cross on the way to his crucifixion. We ended up at the church of the Holy Sepulchre.
In the church, we touched and prayed at the spot on Golgotha where Jesus' cross stood and the place where Jesus' body was anointed after his death. Followed by celebrating a High Mass at the tomb of Jesus, and after Mass, we went into the tomb to touch and pray at the place where Jesus' body lay.
And one other powerful experience, of which there were many, was at the church of Dominus Flevit, the place where Jesus wept for Jerusalem before his Passion. It was a simple church, and as we were celebrating Mass, you could look out this large window behind the altar and see all of Jerusalem. It was breathtaking! I could imagine Jesus standing there weeping. And outside the church, in front of that window, there were trees called Spina Christi, the kind of tree that the crown of thorns was made from. I found the sight of these trees extremely unsettling, knowing what Jesus suffered.
Throughout the pilgrimage, there was one song that we sang since it seemed to be one that everyone knew no matter what parish you came from, and that was Jesus, Remember Me by Jacque Berthier of the Taize Community. This is our song for our Wednesday Worship. My prayer for you for this Triduum is to encounter Jesus differently in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection so as to bring you closer to him.