Reflection for Holy Week
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St. Gregory Nazianzen |
As we enter into Holy Week, I recommend this short reflection (below) from the church's breviary (officially called the Liturgy of the Hours), the prayer that all priests, deacons and religious pray daily.
It is written by St. Gregory of Nazianzen, the great 4th century theologian and Archbishop of Constantinople.
St. Gregory beautifully emphasizes that we should use our imaginations when we pray, putting ourselves in our mind's eye in the place of the characters that we read about in Sacred Scripture.
This same idea was written into a short book I highly recommend by Archbishop Fulton Sheen entitled The Characters of the Passion. (If you have a Kindle reader you can pick it up for $2).
Here's that meditation:
Second Reading
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From
a sermon by Saint Gregory Nazianzen
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We are soon going to share in the
Passover
We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we
still do so only in a sym
bolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than
it possessed in former times because, under the law, the Passover was, if I may
dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word
drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father, we shall be keeping
the Passover in a yet more perfect way, and with deeper understanding. He will
then reveal to us and make clear what he has so far only partially disclosed.
For this wine, so familiar to us now, is eternally new.
It is for us to learn what this drinking is, and
for him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to his disciples,
because teaching is food, even for the teacher.
So let us take our part in the Passover
prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of
the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but
eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly
one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not
required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are
more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs
of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We
must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes
towards the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to
God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the
sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honouring his
blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.
If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross
and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside him like one of the thieves,
now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of
your sin, Christ himself was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you
must cease to sin. Worship him who was hung on the cross because of you, even
if you are hanging there yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame;
purchase salvation with your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how
far you have fallen. Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other
scoffing thief to die outside in his blasphemy.
If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one
who ordered his crucifixion, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the
expiation for the sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man
who worshipped God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial.
If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early morning.
Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and
Jesus himself.