5th Sunday of Lent

        This weekend the Crucifix and Statues are covered. We begin what is called “Passion Tide”. The final two weeks of Lent where we are challenged to be even more diligent than the already diligent first four weeks of Lent. Veiling the Cross & statues is meant to visually remind us that things are different. That we are waiting a new. That we want to really enter into, reimagine (as in ‘to re-image’ – see again from the first time), to focus on what is missing from our lives. “Hiding” Jesus on the cross reminds us how often we don’t see the Cross of Christ as the center focus of our lives ordinarily. What we live in everyday, we visualize this day, by the veiling of God’s Glory. God’s Glory was veiled prior to Jesus’s Incarnation. Until His taking on flesh, we could never quite grasp the Mystery of God. But Jesus reveals God. Jesus pulls back the veil – splits it – tears it down the middle – removes the separation between God and mankind. And yet, we so often live apart from God. We establish fences, barriers, veils between us. Like Adam & Eve after eating from the Tree, we hide ourselves from the God who desires to walk with us. We put up a veil, feeling our ‘nakedness’ before Him who sees all, knows, all, loves all. May this physical veiling of the visual reminders of Christ among us as Emmanuel – God with us – force us to see God truly & really. Below is the Passion Narrative from Matthew’s Gospel (27:20-54), which will be read next Sunday. I invite you to spend some time this Passion Tide, reading, reliving, re-imagining the Life, Suffering, Passion, and Death of Christ as if for the first time, as if the veil has been withdrawn, just for you and for your benefit. See Him, seeing you. Feel Him, loving you in His Cross & Crucifixion.

        The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. The governor said to them in reply, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They answered, "Barabbas!" Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" But he said, "Why? What evil has he done?" They only shouted louder, "Let him be crucified!" When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Look to it yourselves." And the whole people said in reply, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.

        Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.

       As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha — which means Place of the Skull —, they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. After they had crucified him, they divided his garments by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And they placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 

      Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the cross!" Likewise, the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. So, he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some of the bystanders who heard it said, "This one is calling for Elijah." Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, 'Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him." But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.

Holy Family, Gazing upon the Face of God, Pray for us.

~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries