Homily

Even before St. Helena, in the 4th Century, spent a great amount of time and money searching for the places that were important in the life of Christ, and building churches there, Christians were already in the habit of coming to Jerusalem. They wanted to see and touch and pray in the places where Jesus was arrested, crucified, and rose from the dead. This physical connection to these physical places nourished their faith in the Lord they could not see. But of course not everyone could travel to Jerusalem and when it fell into Muslim hands, it became nearly impossible. That is why 800 years ago St. Francis of Assisi came up with an idea for how the faithful could make a pilgrimage in a different way. Instead of travelling to Jerusalem and going from church to church for the days of Holy Week people could go to their own church and move from one painting to another painting that would show the events of Christ's last days, stopping at each one to pray and meditate on the sacrificial love of Christ who suffered and died for us. This idea spread throughout the Western Church and these 14 paintings became known as the Stations of the Cross.

We do not live in a Christian culture that will help support us in our faith this week, unless you think candy, eggs, and bunnies are at the core of our belief. Jobs, school, business, entertainment — everything goes on pretty much the same as the rest of the year. Here where we live there are no reminders or support for us to help us focus on the loving sacrifice of Christ our Lord. Nothing to assist us in pointing out how the great burden of sin was lifted off our backs and carried on the shoulders of one Who was completely innocent. No one will force us to look for the face of Jesus this week. No one will ask us, "Aren't you one of His followers?" and point a finger of accusation at us. They just don't care. I hope that we care.

It would be very wonderful if we could all pack up and fly to Jerusalem this week and retrace the footsteps of Jesus. But instead of a physical pilgrimage, we can make a spiritual pilgrimage, much in the same idea as St. Francis had. Even if we do not move our bodies to the Holy Land, we can make the time and effort to move our minds and our hearts in the direction of our Savior. We may be driving to work or to the store but we can turn our thoughts to the Road to Calvary and ask for the Lord's mercy. Washing dishes, mowing the lawn and many other simple jobs we may have to do also allow us to repeat a simple litany of "Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy."

Going on a pilgrimage always requires a change in our routines and, just like going on a vacation, if you want it to go well, you will have to put some thought and effort into it. So are we willing to go on pilgrimage this week? I would encourage you to take Friday off from work and from school. I believe the commemoration of the day our Lord was crucified is no less deserving of our attention than Labor Day or Memorial Day. Our government will not collapse, our economy will not be destroyed, our children will not become stupid if we use this day at home and in church. In fact, I think the opposite is true.

Some people are in jobs where they cannot do this. But then, even on Friday, and even all the days of this week, we can still make a pilgrimage. Instead of rushing home after work you can spend five or 10 minutes alone in the car in prayer. You can find five or 10 minutes at lunch to close your eyes and speak to Christ. You can carve out a piece of time at home for spiritual reading or meditations, as though you were sitting in the Garden of Gethsemane. Take a walk and think about Jesus as He walked to Calvary. Take a break from TV and computer and read what the Gospels say about the Passion of our Lord. Pick up the kids and pray out loud an "Our Father" in the car as you go home with them. There are many opportunities to make a pilgrimage in these ways, during the coming week, but they won't happen unless we plan them. Just as an aside here. One Friday morning, we have the Matins service with the reading of all the events surrounding the Passion, Death, and Burial of our Lord. Very few people come. I've heard people say, "Oh, it's a really long service." That's true. But it's only about 1/2 as long as the time Jesus spent on the cross, so when you look at it from that perspective, it's no so long. "It's hard to keep the kids still for that long." Understandable, but even if you can only stay for part of the service, isn't it better than not coming at all? There is a woman Egeria who was probably from France who went to Jerusalem for Holy week in the year 381, and she sent letters back home about what she saw and did. She wrote, "At the beginning of the reading of the Gospel (of the Passion of Christ) the whole congregation groans and laments at all that the Lord underwent for us and they way the people would weep would move even the hardest heart to tears. . . It is impressive to see the way all the people are moved by these readings, and how they mourn. You could hardly believe how every single one of them weeps."

Well, we may or may not weep this week, but I hope we tenderly embrace the Passion of our Lord. We won't be travelling to Jerusalem in a physical way, but let's be willing to move our hearts, our minds, and our souls to draw closer to the Savior as we travel through this week. Lord, have mercy on us.