And so, as we have journeyed, we have spent time reflecting upon different aspects of the journey of Christ to Calvary, and, more importantly, different aspects of the Christian life that aid us in our journey to Calvary as well.
This week, our journey takes us, in the more physical way, to Calvary by a physical journey at church. This journey starts outside with the celebration of the blessing of the palms and a journey into the church. It iis a symbolic reminder of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and his entry to the beginning of His passion. We start Holy Week with this celebration because we are being reminded of the journey of Christ to his passion.
Unfortunately, many of us, this year, are unable to participate in the symbolic entry into Jerusalem by entering into the church with our palms. However, this doesn’t mean that we cannot journey with Christ to Calvary in a symbolic manner ourselves. Our entry into the Holy Week and entry into Jerusalem with our Lord is not something that is limited to just a church building or church property. This year, we can enter into the journey with our Lord to Calvary by undertaking our own symbolic journeys.
This year, we can enter into the journey with our Lord to Calvary by undertaking our own symbolic journeys.
The first symbolic journey, we can undertake, could be by picking up some palms at church and having our own symbolic entry and procession around our homes ending by entering into our houses and going to a space dedicated to prayer. This dedicated place to prayer can be a reminder for us during Holy Week of what it is that we are celebrating this week. We can go to this place every day and spend time in prayer giving thanks to God for what it has done for us through His Passion on the cross.
The second symbolic journey can be by making a spiritual entry into Holy Week by undertaking a unique sacrifice or fast. We have the physical entry into the church to remind us of our Lord‘s physical entry into Jerusalem and it is our hope that this physical entry will spur a spiritual entry for ourselves. So, this year we can undertake new spiritual practice during Holy Week to help us to enter into the celebration of our Lord’s passion. This practice can be similar to the practices that we began when Lent started on Ash Wednesday but they can also be different and unique to this week. No matter what spiritual practice we might undertake, it is meant to aid us in entering into Jerusalem, and more importantly, into the celebrations of Holy Week.
These few symbolic journeys into Jerusalem, while different than what we are used to, can help you enter into the celebrations of Holy Week and help you understand what Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection means for you.
