Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! — Jn 12:13
If Lent is a journey, then Holy Week is the final stretch before we reach our destination. Through the Church’s beautiful services, we walk the path with our Lord and His disciples; we follow Christ to His passion and death and finally, joyfully, to His resurrection.
Cries of praise arise on Palm Sunday because the Lord has come, though we have not yet reached the cross. In Holy Week, Christ offers Himself with every step: He blesses bread and wine with His disciples, He struggles in prayer, He gives teachings of hope and comfort even as despair and confusion draw near. He endures loneliness, betrayal by His friends, and the darkness of death itself.
But the grave cannot hold the One who brought all things into being: “Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).
This week, as we keep the cross before us, let us also see in it the light and life that Christ grants us. Christ has emptied Himself so that we may join Him in life, in His Father’s house. Let us rejoice together in His victory!
“Come, take light from the light that is never overtaken by night. Come, glorify Christ, risen from the dead.” — Proclamation of the Resurrection
His Eminence Metropolitan Nicole
The Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas
Liason to IOCC from the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States
Read or download all of this year’s reflections.
Icon from IOCC’s image library (Met Museum, public domain).
