Lent 2020 has been “Lentiest of all Lents.” Lent period in Christian worship calendar is marked by penance and mortification. Christians are called to repent for their sins, do sacrifices, pray more, fast and keep abstinence. But with the scourge of Corona Virus this period has been more mortifying and sacrificial than ever before. It has shaken the faith of people; made people to question their religious beliefs and has been a test of faith and religious conviction.
Now as we are entering the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday on 5th April, we will not be able to hold palms in our hands and sing Hosanna. All of us will still be in isolation and be confined in our homes; many of us will be far away from our loved ones and our extended families and friends. We will still be in our period of quarantine with the streesful isolation, in fact locked down. We will be missing our family moments and our cherished prayer moments. We will be missing our traditional meals, drinks, parties and visits of friends.
Each year as a priest I look forward to the celebration of Holy Week. Each one of us will be missing our favourite rites of the Holy Week, each according to our own faith traditions. Rites such as Washing of the Feet, Good Friday Way of the Cross, Passion Plays, Exultant—Easter Praises, Pascha Candle, Easter Eggs, etc. For all fervent Christians who are regular to these celebrations, these are irreplaceable losses. This year’s Holy Week will be somber, dark and dull Holy Week. The Pope Francis called these days, “dark days” and reminded us that we are all in the same boat and we need to row together. So that we may reach the shore together.
How can we still mark Holy Week with faith and devotion during such a troubling and difficult time? After all the Passion Week of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago was a sober, somber, with sobs and snuffles. Perhaps Jesus, the protagonist of the Holy Week wants us to celebrate this year’s Holy Week the way he himself went through in Jerusalem. Given to this situation, in faith and discipline we can make the best of this Holy Week, as holy as possible.
People love Palm Sunday, holding palms together with children and making beautiful images of palms and some keep them as souvenir until the next Ash Wednesday when they will be made into sacred ash. Now having unable to go for church service, we can read at home, the sacred text from one of the gospels, preferably from the gospel of St. John, the event of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem.
If possible, we can get any branch of a tree or a plant to replace the palm and keep it at home as a symbolic “palm” at least until the end of quarantine period. It is a reminder for us that Jesus, the Lord is with us as he comes in glory.
On Holy Thursday we remember the Supper and Jesus’ celebration of his memorial meal with his apostles, when he took bread and wine, and gave it to them saying “this is my body,” “this is my blood” which many traditional Churches celebrate as Eucharist or Mass. This year as a family, though we live in a difficult moment of Corona Virus, we shall live the Holy Thursday as best as possible. Prepare a nice meal together, sit down as a family, share what you are grateful for, because the word Eucharist means thanksgiving. And at some point, during the meal, one of the parents, (perhaps the dad), rises from the table and washes the feet of his family. This could be an act which we will remember for years to come.
As we are all spending lot of time together in our homes, it is certain that we will be together in the noon and the afternoon of Good Friday. Remembering our traditional church service with its gospel reading, intercessory prayers and remembering of the cross, as a family, gather together and one member of the family holding a crucifix out, allows for the family to venerate it. You may wish to pray together one of the traditional prayers before a crucifix. It could be a moving experience for the whole family.
Holy Saturday we recall the burial of Jesus in the tomb. On that Good Friday, he was taken down from the cross and placed in a borrowed tomb. If you are looking for something to do on Holy Saturday, remember the deceased members of the family. May be some of our families’ vicinity have graves of our parents, grandparents and relatives. We can visit them and remember them and their good lives they shared with us. It also serves as a reminder to us that all the dead will rise from their graves.
Next morning the Church celebrates the Easter Sunday. Once again, we are going to miss the greatest of all Christian prayer. We will miss the candle service, the lighting of fire, and other rites related to baptism, depending on the traditions of different churches. Surely on this day, we can watch the Easter Night Vigil service livestreamed. In our homes we can light a candle or a lamp and pray with it as a family. It could be a good teaching moment for our children.
Instead of feeling sorry and suffer nostalgia for missing the Holy Week we can make the coming week a memorable week for our family, especially for our children. By doing this we are making the Church and worship to come alive into our lives and our homes. The Church becomes domestic and we are strengthened to live this difficult lockdown period with more energy and blessing. Let us continue to live the paschal mystery of Jesus, his dying and rising, during these days of quarantine.
Fr. Lazar Arasu is the Chaplain at Palabek Refugee Settlement Camp
Email: arasuafrica@gmail.com
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