Approaching Holy Week: The Colors of the Wind

The Friday before Palm Sunday serves as a crucial threshold, a day to intentionally shift our hearts and minds as we approach the intense and emotionally charged journey of Holy Week. While our Catholic faith is rooted in truth and reason, it also acknowledges the profound impact of encountering the God who is love on our emotions. This final Friday of Lent invites us to delve into the complex emotional landscape that preceded Christ's Passion, preparing us to more fully accompany him through the triumphs of Palm Sunday and the agonizing events that follow. By consciously engaging our feelings, we can better place ourselves within the narrative, recognizing our own human desires for a savior, our capacity for both adoration and betrayal, and our need for redemption.

As we stand on the edge of Holy Week, let us heed the call to emotional engagement. If we cannot recognize our own "confused desires for a savior," those moments when we seek deliverance in fleeting comforts or worldly solutions rather than true spiritual liberation, how can we truly understand the fickle crowd's initial praise and subsequent cries for crucifixion? Similarly, if we cannot weep for our sins, acknowledging our own participation in the brokenness of the world that led to Christ's suffering, how can we genuinely venerate the cross, the ultimate symbol of his sacrifice for that very sin? Pope Saint John Paul II often spoke of the importance of interior conversion, a transformation that touches not only our intellect and will but also our hearts. This Friday offers us an opportunity for such an emotional reckoning, allowing us to confront our own vulnerabilities and need for God's mercy.

The week ahead will present a "complicated color palette" for our prayers, a spectrum of emotions ranging from joyful acclamation to profound sorrow, from confusion and fear to the ultimate hope of resurrection. It may at times defy our intellectual understanding or our ability to fully express its weight. Yet, as we enter Holy Week, let us embrace this complexity, allowing ourselves to feel as fully as we can the weight of Christ's sacrifice and the immensity of his love. This Friday is a sacred pause, a moment to open our hearts to the emotional reality of the Passion, trusting that even when words fail, our heartfelt participation will draw us deeper into the mystery of God's saving love, preparing us for the glorious dawn of Easter.