Reflections for Holy Week

David Martin | The Daily Knight

A wholesome Holy Week reflection is to remember that God’s covenant is with those who follow Christ in the way of the Cross. Christians are called to honor Christ by imitation. As they say, “Imitation is the best compliment.” In union with Christ, we are called the bear the cross of persecution and hardship. The cross of the spirit is especially pleasing to God. “A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 50:19)

God’s covenant then is with those who embrace the cross, not with those who reject it. The opponents of the cross are those who reject the Messiah, which include the Jews of old who placed him on the cross. The religion they purported to follow came to an end with Christ’s Passion.

While on route to Jerusalem to undergo his Passion, Jesus stopped and cursed the fig tree by the wayside, saying to it, “May no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.” (Mt. 21:19) By this, Christ was abrogating the Jewish religion so that never again would it produce the fruit of salvation. 1  

In the Palm Sunday reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, we read that upon Christ’s expiration on the cross when he gave up the Ghost, “the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.” (Luke 23: 45) This symbolized how the Old Testament covenant was broken whereby God’s covenant was no longer with the people of the temple (Jews) but with the people of Christ who honor his Crucifixion.

Christ is Our Passover

By his death and resurrection, Christ established the New Covenant whereby the people of faith passed from the Old Testament into the New Testament. This was the true Passover that was prefigured by the passing of the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage into the promised land.

After the Egyptians had oppressed the Jews for four hundred years, God deemed that it was time to smite the Egyptians with darkness so he could lead his people out of Egypt. Under God’s direction, Moses commanded the people to place the blood of the lamb over their doorposts with the promise that the angel of death would bypass any home that bore the blood of the lamb.

Sure enough, it came to pass. Pharoah and the Egyptians were oppressed with horrific darkness and pains while the Israelites joyfully walked out of Egypt in the light of God’s countenance. Through the hand of Moses, God delivered the people from bondage, which prefigured how Christ would lead us out of the bondage of sin through the shedding of his blood.

The Old Testament Prefigured the New Testament

We see that during their journey toward the promised land the Jews ate manna from Heaven, which was a figure of how Christians during their journey of faith would eat the true Manna from Heaven, which is the Holy Eucharist – the Bread of Life.

In every which way, the Old Testament religion prefigured the New Testament religion to come. For instance, the sacrificing of the lamb to atone for sin prefigured how the Lamb of God by his Sacrifice would atone for the sins of man. The prophetic references to “Israel,” “my vineyard,” or “my holy mountain” were a figure of the one True Church that Christ would establish under Peter (Matt. 16:18). The waters that miraculously issued forth from the Rock of Horeb (Exodus 17:6) prefigured the pure waters of Holy Tradition that would issue forth from the Rock of Peter – the Papacy.

Worldwide Reparation Needed

A good Holy Week meditation is to reflect on the need for worldwide reparation to the injured Heart of Jesus, because after all he has done man has refused his redemption by preferring to live in the bondage of sin as did the Old Testament Jews who bickered against God in the desert for having delivered them out of the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 17:1-4).

Therefore a great chastisement approaches humanity. “Wars are a punishment for man’s sins.” We can cite many political reasons for the escalating war in the middle east, but when all is said and done it is the sin of man that is bringing the scepter of war upon humanity. And with this, there approaches three horrific days of darkness similar to (but far worse than) the darkness that afflicted Egypt.

Remedy Against the Coming Darkness

However, God offers special protection to those who follow a few simple instructions. In the prophetic revelations of Jesus and Mary given during their apparitions at Bayside (1970-1995), we are promised that if we place a crucifix on the front and back door to our homes, the angel of death will not harm our homes during the coming darkness. Like the passing of the lamb, the angel of death will bypass any home that has the image of the living God on the outside of its doors. Like the Israelites who joyfully walked out of Egypt in the light of God, those who listen to this counsel will bask in the light while the world howls and screams.

Only let us pray for those with deafened ears who without prayer are destined for misery, that they too may be saved.

1. It was the anticipated merits of Christ that gave the Old Testament religion its efficacy. However, those who faithfully followed the Old Law could not enter Heaven upon death but had to wait in Limbo until Christ’s Passion could deliver them.