BEING PRESENT
Today, we enter into Holy Week in the church’s calendar, the last week of the Lenten season where the church’s readings at Mass invites us into a deeper reflection on the last eight days of Jesus’ life on earth. For some of us who are caught up in the day-to-day vicissitudes of life, the realisation that yet another Lent has flown by might come as a rude awakening. We still have this week to prepare ourselves so that we may deepen our appreciation and participation in our Easter celebrations soon to come.
Looking Back to Look Forward
How we make sense of our own realities today is informed by our past experiences. We call to mind the past few Sunday’s gospel readings for Year C, the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13:1-9), the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-32), and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). These are invitations for us to see in our lives the love and mercy of God who is actively working in our lives, and a clarion call to turn our lives around, to “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near at hand” (Matthew 4:17), to turn back to a Father who loves us and runs to us first, and that this father does not condemn us if we truly repent and sincerely strive for holiness and wholeness in our lives.
It is important to remember that our attitude in looking back is not for us to dwell on our sinfulness and self-condemnation and remain trapped there in unhealthy self-accusation. This leads us to a dangerous level of self-focus and self-centeredness. Rather, we are invited to look to the Lord for his help in overcoming our weaknesses, to ask humbly for strength and healing. and to grow more and more in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. In maintaining a healthy understanding of who we are and how we need help, to see ourselves and each other in the light of the Holy Spirit, we come to the realisation of our Christian mission in supporting each other on this journey of faith towards our heavenly homeland.
Paradoxical Behaviours
Our readings today may strike us as an absurd contradiction. We begin the Mass raising our palms in triumphant exclamation as we celebrate Jesus’ entering into Jerusalem. The gospel at the Procession draws our attention to the multitude praising God and rejoicing as they remembered “all the mighty works that they had seen” in their own lives and the lives of those around them. Yet later on in our Passion narrative, those same hands that were raised in praise soon became raised in striking Jesus, the same voices extolling Jesus as King were crying out in rejection, in taunts and mockery, and even condemning the same Jesus to death by crucifixion.
Have we become so quick to forget? Have we behaved likewise and treated those in our lives, the people around us in the same way? Our family members, friends, colleagues, classmates, even people in the marketplaces and around us. Have we forgotten the King’s reply in Matthew 25:40 where he states clearly “Amen, I say to you, as much as you have done to one of these my little brothers, you have done that to me.”
Sometimes, we may find ourselves caught up in our perception of how others around us ill-treat us, relating with parts of Psalm 22 in our feelings of isolation and loneliness, abandonment, and despair, and our ardent desire for a swift resolution of the situation. In our second reading, St Paul draws our attention to Jesus’ humility and obedience to God; the Christ-hymn of Philippians shows us Jesus’ total trust and surrender to God’s plan and providence. In his example of submission, Jesus demonstrates for us that we must continue to trust and hope in God’s deliverance and salvation, in God’s plan and timing. It calls for us to live out our identity of who we are in Christ, and strive towards Christlikeness in our mindsets, our hearts, and our attitudes as observed in our behaviour.
Present-Tense
We live in a tension of tomorrows. We may be privileged enough to worry about the next holiday, the next stage of our lives, our future plans and the futures of our children and loved ones. This attitude of being “forward-looking”, somewhat necessary in the right perspective, may rob us of being present in the here and now. In our human experience, when we have some certitude of what is to come, we find ourselves moving on to other worries instead of living in the present.
It is possible that this attitude may have carried over to our faith life in some way. As good Christians, we are very familiar with our Bible stories: we already know what is going to happen - Christ is going to have a last supper with his disciples and wash their feet, then he will be betrayed by a disciple, be handed over to suffer and be crucified and die on the cross, then three days later he will rise from the dead on Easter. Having this fore-knowledge robs us of being present in the here-and-now since there is no anticipation of what-might-be to be had. We naturally turn our attention to everything else that is unknown and still exciting (or worry- and anxiety- provoking).
This year, let us do something different for ourselves and our family. Spend some time on Sunday to recollect, to look back to how our Lent has been for us this 2025 - in our fasting, our prayers, our almsgiving, and other little sacrifices we have made. Let’s offer it all up, including the opportunities we may have missed, and leave it all at the foot of the Cross. Let’s be present in the day to day unfolding of Jesus’ last eight days in the following Gospel passages:
Holy Monday (14 Apr): John 12:1-11
Holy Tuesday (15 Apr): John 13:21-33, 36-38
Holy Wednesday (16 Apr): Matthew 26:14-25
Maundy Thursday (17 Apr): John 13:1-15
Good Friday (18 Apr): The Passion Narrative (based on John 18:1—19:42)
Holy Saturday (19 Apr): Luke 24:1-12
Better yet, let’s make the effort this year to be present at the Sacred Paschal Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. The church holds the Triduum as the most sacred of all its liturgical celebrations.
Being Present to Life
Finally, the church is the People of God (CCC 781-810), made up of every one of us. We are called to be an active part of this community and to join one another in worship together. The gathering of the multitude praising and exalting God together is a truly beautiful expression of our communitarian worship. This week, let us reach out to and invite our family members and friends to join in this celebration. We pray for the grace to look beyond our past hurts and misunderstandings, welcome these friends (back) to church, and join with one another in this eight-day spiritual pilgrimage towards Easter.
I pray this Holy Week will be a truly blessed one for you and your loved ones, dearest brothers and sisters in Christ. May this hymn help us to enter the mystery of our faith that we celebrate this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kRMXA78iI
Article by Daniel Tham, HFC Blog Contributor