Make it an Active Holy Week
Holy Week is an amazing time of year. The liturgies are just so powerful. But there is a danger to all of the extra activities, and it’s an ironic one: it can lead us more in the past and into a passive faith. While the week is definitely about remembering the final days of Jesus on earth, it’s important to remember that liturgy is never about the past alone. It’s about calling our attention to how what happened long ago is still true today, still unfolding today, still bringing life today. We are not actors in a play and we are not trying to relive the past. Our goal, in the liturgy and in life, is to participate in what Christ is doing today. The paschal mystery is not that Jesus rose from the dead. It is that he is alive today.
But we can learn from the past…
That said, there are elements of the past we want to learn from so that we can turn away from. One of the main ones that is always thrown at us as Catholics is the crusades. Without denying that many things went wrong in these conquests, it’s important that we don’t accept every criticism as fact. Here are five myths about the crusades.
Top Gun: Maverick is… Extra
No movie is quite so dialed up to 11 like Top Gun: Maverick. Everything about it is pushed to the extreme, which is why is was such a fun movie to watch and exploded at the box office.
From the Vault: The Triduum Explained
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the holiest days of the year for Christians. Together, they are called the Triduum. For a refresher on what that means and what we celebrate, here’s a video from 2018.
What a week to read the Bible
If you haven’t started praying with my guided meditation podcast The Word Became Flesh, you are going to want to start this week. In what can only be called perfect divine intervention, we have reached the story of the Passion according to Mark… right at the beginning of Holy Week. It was fate, I’m sure. Each day this week I’ll post a new meditation, reaching the crucifixion on Friday and taking Saturday off in silence.
Hope everyone has a great Holy Week!
I’ll be posting an important video about this week’s liturgy on either Wednesday or Thursday, so be sure to check the Breaking in the Habit YouTube page before the Triduum starts for that extra help in your prayer.
Peace and good,
Fr. Casey