Hosanna!

Hosanna! It’s Holy Week!

This is by far my favorite week of the entire year. Between Altar Serving and being on the Art & Environment committee, I’m at church Wednesday-Sunday and love every minute of it.

This is truly a most holy and blessed week in the church year because it is when we see that Jesus is just like us: human; God let’s us know that Jesus Christ and this church we love are very vulnerable to the things of earth. Temptations, wickedness, jealousy; all of the things which we see come from the high priests and roman guard, especially Pilate.

 We are reminded of the fickle nature of the human race. On Palm Sunday, we honored the Jews who celebrated the entrance of Jesus, the Messiah, back into Jerusalem. Thursday of the same week, we hear those same Jews have arrested Him and the next day, Good Friday, those very Jews and guards will crucify him.

Above all, though, I think the most important lesson that comes from Holy Week is that Jesus Christ IS the Son of Man; he is true God and true Man. He is the complete and sinless power of God while enduring the trials and tribulations of being totally human. From this, we get the most important lesson of all: Suffering is OK!

It is ok to fall. It is ok to doubt. It is ok to wander. It is ok to be afraid. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asks his father to “let this cup pass [him] by” and from the cross he yells “Eli Eli lema sabachthani!” which means “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is afraid to die on the cross and, if it be his Father’s will, to let the moment pass him by so that he may live.

But Jesus does not give up on the will of his Father because he knows that the only plan in our lives should be to follow the plan already written. It is ok to suffer and fall, but the only way out is often to surrender ourselves completely to God’s will…just like Jesus did!

Lent is time to really pick up our crosses and examine our relationship with God. Just because Lent is ending, however, doesn’t mean you can just throw that cross down and go on your merry way. Lent is training sessions and the rest of the year is the competition. Stay with Christ and, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, we have to “Run the Race so as to Win.”

On a personal note, HI! Things are incredibly busy at North Central. I’m just finishing up my seminary application, so please continue praying for me as I go through this difficult process. I’m having some doubts, of course…how could I not? This is a HUGE decision and change. But I took some quiet time to myself tonight after setting up for Holy Thursday at St. Anne tonight. It felt great to just sit and think in a silent house of God like that. I felt happy, at ease, and comfortable. That’s how I know that God wants me to do this. I’m not going to become a priest for me; sure it’s what I want to do, but I am not worthy to have the very person of Christ (persona Christi) branded on my heart; nobody is. But God has put this in my head because he wants it (I hope!) and I will answer when he says “Come, Follow Me!” and I will do it with joy.

Anyway, Happy Holy Week and, in case I don’t get a chance to update again, Happy Easter! May the joy of the risen Lord fill your hearts and souls forever; May the eternal joy of Jesus Christ and God the Father ignite your spririts and make you come alive with the faith, hope, and love of Jesus!

In Christ,
RA

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