My first question for the students this morning: what is
your favorite time of year? “Easter!” And why Easter? “You get candy.” Well we’ll get back to that one in a
second. Who else? “July 15th.” [His younger brother then yelled] “That’s his birthday!” Cool, birthdays are good times of the
year. Anyone else? “Christmas, because I get to open
presents.” Yep, and Jesus was
born! I’m surprised no one
mentioned the weather. I’d say any
day in Duluth over 70 degrees is my favorite time of the year.
Now
a different question—what is the holiest
time of year? “Easter.” Yep, Easter is part of the answer. But what is this whole week
called? “Holy Week!” You bet. We are currently in the holiest time of the year.
Tell
me about this week. What happens
on Thursday? “On Thursday we have
the Last Supper and foot washing.”
Great memory. We indeed
celebrate the Lord’s Supper and also the beginning of the priesthood of
Jesus. And Friday? [To a kindergarten student]: What
happens Friday? What’s above the
altar? “Jesus.” Exactly. And what did Jesus do for us? “He died for our sins.” And Saturday evening is the best because Jesus’ death is not
the end of the story. He rose from
the dead and thus conquers death and sin.
Does
anyone know what these three days are called? I’ll give you a hint—it means three days in Latin.
Maybe that’s not a good hint…[Sixth grader says]: “Holy Triduum.” Yep, and the Triduum—three days—is one
celebration over three days. I
hope you and your families can participate in Holy Thursday, Good Friday and
the Easter Vigil as it is the holiest time of the year.
One
final point I would like to make.
Actually, Fr. Rich made this point in his homily yesterday. (I copied his homily last night when I
had Mass. Whenever I have Mass
after him I ask him about what he preached. For the first time I told him, “That is good. I’ll copy it!”) Fr. Rich’s point was comparing two of
Jesus’ disciples. One of them was
in the Gospel this morning. Who
was this? “Judas.” Both Judas and Peter did something bad
to Jesus. What did they do? “Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied him three times.” Right. Then what happened?
They responded to their sin in very different ways. “Judas didn’t ask for forgiveness.” Great answer. Judas didn’t ask for forgiveness because he didn’t think
Jesus would forgive him. Peter did
and Jesus showed him mercy.
Each
of us, like Judas and Peter, does bad things. Whenever we tease each other, disobey our parents or don’t
follow directions from our teacher, we actually sin against Jesus. We all sin against Christ and betray
him. Yet remember that Jesus will
always forgive you if you ask for forgiveness. There is no sin that Jesus can’t forgive so always respond
like Peter.
Holy
Week is the best time of the year to think about our sin and Jesus’
solution. Through his passion,
death and resurrection we see both the consequence of sin and its
redemption. Have a wonderful Holy
Week!
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