“This will be your busy week”!
I’d say there aren’t many priests in the country who haven’t heard or will hear that comment made many times. I have one priest friend who has a set response at this stage, he just says “Well sure when it’s over, I can slacken off til Christmas”:)
Is it a busy week? In ways, I suppose it is but it’s a week that is more or less mapped out for us. The scene is well set in today’s “Long Gospel” and the story is told a-new once again so that it becomes part of our fabric in the coming days.
Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, Mass of The Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening, Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday (possibly Stations of the Cross somewhere along the way that evening), Confessions and, of course, the Easter Vigil. It’s all there for us, scripted and laid out but we have to try to make our own of it.
Someone shared a video clip with me a little while ago. Two young brothers at Mass on Palm Sunday, totally bored by the long Gospel, they start to mess. Their mother chastises them but the response in better behaviour is short-lived. One challenges the other to shout out loud when the crowd is to say “Crucify him”. He bets his brother one dollar that he won’t.
There’s a change …. sure have a look yourself and you’ll see what I mean.
Whether it’s a busy week or not, is pretty much up to us. For it to be a meaningful week, we need to make it personal. That personal moment may well come at a moment we least expect and it will make all the other moments make sense ….