In the Midst of Holy Week 2009

We are now in the midst of this wondrous time that we call Holy Week. It began with Palm Sunday and it was preceded by Great and Holy Lent. I have a very hard time trying to explain Great and Holy Lent, or Holy Week. Both of these times are part of that process that we call life, or walking with Christ, or working out our salvation through faith and grace.

Great and Holy Lent is a wonderful walk. I appreciate that the Church, in its wisdom, tells us the things that we need to give up to have a productive Lenten season. It is not left up to us to figure out what we need to give up. We can't decide to "give up chocolate" or "give up TV", or "give up" whatever. What we give up is already defined by the Church. It is up to us, with the counsel of our spiritual father, to decide how strenuously we can follow the therapeutic direction of the Church.

And, if we take the medicine that is given to us, and we take it faithfully, wonderful things happen. It is akin to what happens to me when I am part of a Divine Liturgy. For that service, we also have to fast, at least from the midnight before, from all pleasures, food, and even water. When one does this, accompanied with prayer and faith, something beyond words takes place when the very Body and Blood of Christ are received from the priest. It is beyond anything that I have ever experienced before. Christ is experienced, beyond words, beyond emotions, beyond the flesh.

It has already happened multiple times to me this week, beginning with Palm Sunday, and continuing to now. There is an incredible anticipation that comes from fasting from the things that we are accustomed to. There is a hunger, there is a weakness, there is a hopefulness that comes, and that leads to Christ. There are moments during the services when I find myself meditating upon what is being chanted, or upon my own sinfulness, or upon how wondrous God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. It is an out of the body experience, it is an in the Spirit of God experience. And, in that experience I have a better sense of how utterly sinful I am, of how utterly loving and transcendent God is, of how much He loves us, of how much we so fail to love Him as we were made to, and how He wants us to fall more in love with him.

And, this season is not about chasing these experiences, or comparing mine to someone else's. It is not about thinking myself more holy or more spiritual. This season is about clearing out the things of this world that are in the way of me walking in the Garden with God. It is about returning to where Adam was intended to go. It is about having a greater appreciation for the love of God as expressed on the Cross.

This year I have been able to participate in Holy Week in two different parishes, in two different states, with two different priests, one Greek, and one Carpatho-Russian. The beauty is that, even though the music is different, the voices are different, or the setting is different, the result is the same. And, this very fact is being celebrated all around the world as Christians come together after the preparation known as Lent, to celebrate that last week of Christ's earthly ministry in this time that we Holy Week.