Holy Week is a most sacred time of the year for it is during this week that we recreate and remember the last week of Jesus’s life here on earth. Beginning with Palm Sunday, we are invited to be a part of one of the greatest event in the Bible. We welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, waving our palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” A couple of days later, our shouts change to “Crucify him! Crucify him!” during the reading of the Passion.
Having spent most of my life in Kuwait, an Islamic country, we were fortunate to freely practice our Christian faith and thereby I did attend the Church regularly. During the past so many years I’ve dipped in and out of different Holy Week events at Holy Family Cathedral – Kuwait but honestly, I’ve never gone to all of them in a single week. As I am now permanently based in Goa, this year was my first time, not only fully attending the Holy Week event but also actually participating in them in one way or the other.
Palm Sunday
It is on Palm Sunday that we enter Holy Week, welcoming Jesus into our lives and asking Him to allow us a share in His suffering, death and Resurrection.
I received my palm branches at the Divine Liturgy. Took them to my home and put them in a place where we can always see them. Let the palms remind us that Christ is the King of our families, that Christ is the King of our hearts, and that Christ is the only true answer to our quest for happiness and meaning in our lives.
Maundy Thursday
The feet-washing service. I’ve never been part of this event and surprisingly the ceremony washing of the feet on Maundy Thursday evaded me for one reason or other during my whole tenure in the Gulf. Fortunately, this year I was one of the twelve chosen to be a part of this event. It’s a different kind of feeling as it appears to be intimate and vulnerable to let a Priest wash your feet, though I imagine powerful for those exact reasons. The point Jesus was trying to make is already spelled out in the Scriptures and needs little interpretation. We are to serve our neighbors, even if it means we must do things we might not like to do. Even if the work is dirty or hard, or even if we think it beneath us, we must still do our work. After all, Jesus Himself, the Son of God, washed the feet of His disciples. And we are no greater than Jesus, so surely, we too should do the same.
Stations of the Cross
The morning of Good Friday our Church had Stations of the Cross outside, in the compound. I saw that they had put up the fourteen pictures, and the big congregation, including myself, walked from picture to picture in hot humid morning sun. Then there was a scriptural reading, a meditation, and a prayer at each station. Prior to COVID epidemic, I was privileged to experience personally during my visit to Israel, the Road to Calvary, or Via Dolorosa, the name given to Christ’s final journey from Jerusalem to the hill of Calvary. It is unimaginable the torture, shame and the pain He underwent and how much difficult it was for Him to navigate the hilly road, those slim narrow lanes, which are well preserved till date with a heavy cross on His shoulders. Today look on from a distance: a distance of time, space and culture, it pains to watch Jesus dying, even if that happened some 2000 years ago. It hurts to know how much pain and torture He underwent for us, a sense of victory that we were being rescued and a sense of belonging to know how much we are valued and loved.
Good Friday Liturgy
This is the noon service on Good Friday at our church. It begins with readings from Bible and then we read Christ’s Passion narrative. Again, different people in the congregation read the different parts. They also play the role of the crowd, so we all say together, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Fortunately this year I was assigned to the monologues of Pontius Pilate and within myself it was a deeply unsettling experience —but unsettling in a good way. All said and done, we know that Pontius Pilate came to the defense of Jesus before yielding to the desire of the crowd. Emoting his dialogues, it gave me a reassuring sense that even then, for whatever reasons, I would still be someone who wouldn’t want Jesus to die.
Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday
These two days were as normal and quiet as any other in the past years. A reassurance that Jesus by dying on the Cross defeated sin and gave us a new life.
In Conclusion
This year’s Holy week was a rewarding experience. I will always remember my own involvement in those liturgies: the tenderness of a stranger washing my feet, the collective involvement in the Good Friday liturgy reading and at the end my forehead pushed hard against wood of the cross.
For this awesome experience to happen many were responsible and in all gratefulness I will have to raise my heart in gratitude, firstly to our lighthouse our Vicar Fr. Andrew D. Pereira, Our Assistant Vicar Fr. Leslie Gomes, PPC members, our Wards in Charge and especially to “Pormoll Editorial Board” for allowing this article in their magazine.
A big Thank you and God Bless you all.
Disclaimer: These are my own personal reflections and thoughts on “Holy Week” and are not meant to hurt any sentiments and should not be debated.
Agnelo A. S. Fernandes
Ward 12