This week we begin the most sacred week of the church’s calendar when each of us is invited to enter more fully into the Paschal Mystery of our faith — namely the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The dying and rising of Jesus is the centerpiece of all gospel narratives. Of necessity death and resurrection must be seen as a single reality of faith. The death of Jesus without resurrection would make all beliefs fruitless and in vain. Without resurrection, we would have no reason to hope, no assurance that life continues after death, no conviction that immortality truly exists. Resurrection alone, without suffering and death would bypass the realities of life itself which entail self-denial, self-sacrifice and an acceptance of the cross as the means to new life. Put more simply, we cannot celebrate Easter properly without first observing Good Friday. There can be no short cuts in this spiritual life.

Dying and rising are not just a one-time event in a person’s life. We enter regularly into the Paschal Mystery by picking up our cross, as Jesus instructed us to do, by losing our life so that we might find it. Life involves a series of disappointments but also a series of new life and new joys. We truthfully can say that Jesus is risen and we are rising. We are called to experience the redemptive mission of Christ in our world today. Christ died and rose only once but we encounter and hear about the dying and rising of Jesus every day of our lives.

Hence, Holy Week is the most sacred week in the church’s calendar year. How we observe it in this Jubilee 2000 Year reflects in capsule form how we live out our faith as followers of Jesus. Palm Sunday, or the Sunday of the Passion as it is now called, takes us through the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and the reading of the Passion according to St. Mark. In the Marcan view the disciples never accepted the reality that Jesus must suffer and die before the Kingdom of God would come. All the friends of Jesus would be scattered. The disciples all forsake him and flee. Jesus is alone, completely abandoned. Jesus struggles with death as a great trial or temptation. Nature itself is plunged into darkness during his final hours on the cross. Jesus seems forsaken even by his God. For Mark, the story of Jesus’ death does not close with the burial, but with the resurrection by which Jesus is fully vindicated.

On Monday evening of Holy Week, I will bless the sacred oils, the oil of catechumens used at baptism, the oil for the anointing of the sick and Sacred Chrism used for the anointing at baptism, confirmation and priestly ordination. At each anointing with Chrism, the Christian enters more deeply into the mission of Christ as priest, prophet and servant king. On Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the Mass of the Last Supper, which includes the washing of the feet as the sign of discipleship, the Eucharist as the memorial of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection and the solemn procession of the Blessed Sacrament as testimony that Christ accompanies us on the journey of life. On Holy Thursday, we are reminded of Jesus’ great gift of himself to us which we celebrate not as an event of the past but as an experience of the very present. What we call the Last Supper becomes the very meal of life for us as a Eucharistic people.

Good Friday is called "good" because though his cross, death and resurrection Jesus has brought redemption to our world. The liturgy is a stark contrast to that of Thursday. The passage from Isaiah of the Suffering Servant is read, followed by the reading of the Passion by John. Then follows the solemn general intercessions, the veneration of the cross and the receiving of Communion.

The Easter Vigil begins on Holy Saturday night. This night is different from all other nights as the Easter candle is carried in solemn procession: Christ is our light, who breaks the darkness. This night is special with the singing of the Exultet (rejoice), the recalling of salvation history, the blessing of the water for the baptism of the many Elect who are joining the Catholic Church, and the Profession of Faith for those already baptized in another Christian tradition who wish to become Catholic.

During the Lenten Season, I had the distinct privilege of meeting approximately 1,300 people who wish to become a part of us and with whom we wish to share their journey of faith. They will receive the full initiation into the church by receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. At the Easter Vigil, as we watch and wait for the risen Christ, we experience the living presence of Christ in the lives of those who want to join as full members of their parish community. The story of conversion, while different for each person, is the story of a faith journey. It has to do with the many various people who touch our lives. Faith can only be nurtured, strengthened and celebrated through participation in a faith community. As one Catechumen said in a witness talk, "there is more to life than just living. Toward the end of the journey of faith, I began to realize that this parish was the place to begin my journey. The journey, I quickly found, has no end. We are always learning, always growing, always moving, toward God."

Let’s journey together this Holy Week, so that the joy of Christ on that first Easter morn will be ours as we rise with Christ to newness of life. May the Alleluias we sing have true meaning for us as we celebrate our own resurrection in Christ.