In spite of Covid restrictions, preparations take place for the Easter season. Easter eggs and Easter fare sell well in supermarkets and local shops. Advertisements on the media encourage people to buy all the essentials to celebrate the Easter feast. Nobody expected to be in this second season of lockdown. We hoped that Easter of 2020 would not repeat itself but it has unfortunately. This week gives time to reflect on Easter. People celebrate for different reasons. Why do you celebrate Easter? Hope and joy are alive with the new life of Resurrection.<\/p>\n
Christians celebrate Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday with the mix of emotions proclaimed in the Palm Sunday Liturgy. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He would celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover with his friends later in the week.\u00a0 \u00a0With restrictions, death and grief all around, God\u2019s people can stand in solidarity with Jesus as he approaches his imminent death. This week the Churches will celebrate Holy Week and Easter ceremonies online, offering God\u2019s people options to travel everywhere virtually.<\/p>\n
The first reading proclaimed at Mass from the prophet Isaiah (Is 42:1-7) introduces God\u2019s servant who is chosen and the one in whom God\u2019s soul delights. Endowed with the spirit of God he will \u2018bring justice to the nations.\u2019 He will not cry out or shout aloud. He is as a lamb led to the slaughter, doing the will of God. God is preparing his servant for the mission of justice, which lies ahead. All the signs of vocation are there. God calls the servant to \u2018serve the cause of right\u2019. The call is personal and unique. God takes the servant by his hand, accompanying him and forming him. The servant \u2018is the covenant of the people and the light of the nations.\u2019 His mission is \u2018to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.\u2019 God accompanies his servant.<\/p>\n
This is the mission of Jesus and the mission in which God\u2019s people engage. Disciples do not go alone.\u00a0 God\u2019s Spirit is with them always.<\/p>\n
The psalmist recognises the strength of God (Psalm 26: 1-3, 13-14). God is light, help, and \u2018a stronghold of my life.\u2019 The assembly respond to the verse of the Psalm saying, \u2018The Lord is my light and my help.\u2019 There is no need to fear. The psalmist is certain he will \u2018see the Lord\u2019s goodness\u2019 and encourages those who listen to \u2018hope in the Lord, hold firm and take heart.\u2019 The words of the song come to mind, \u2018He will hold me fast.\u2019<\/p>\n
In Holy Week, Jesus trusted in God through the fear and anguish, he experienced.<\/p>\n
The Gospel (Jn 12:1-11) proclaims Jesus\u2019 encounter in Bethany where he went for a dinner in Lazarus\u2019 house, having raised him from the dead. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were close friends of Jesus. Mary expresses her passionate love for Jesus by anointing his feet with a very expensive ointment. She dried his feet with her hair. Mary\u2019s anointing becomes one of preparation for the burial of the body after death.<\/p>\n
Judas challenged Mary on buying such expensive nard. He had charge of the common fund and suggested spending the money on the poor. Though Judas was one of the twelve apostles, he was not committed to Jesus. Jesus told him to \u2018leave her alone.\u2019 Jesus knew what was in Judas\u2019 heart, that he was about to betray him. Jesus also knew that this was the last time he would visit Bethany because his hour was near. Many of the Jews were angry when they heard Jesus was in the house. They came to seek information about Jesus and to kill Lazarus. It was because of Lazarus that many of the Jews began to believe in Jesus. All is in preparation for Jesus\u2019 final hour.<\/p>\n