April 4, 2020 Holy Week in a time of Pandemic
Feeling constrained, confined or isolated during Shelter in Place?
Let's bring all that to our celebration of Holy Week this year, because that's exactly what we see Jesus experience throughout his passion and death. They constrain his hands upon arrest, they bind him and take him before Pilate and Herod for judgement, they tie him to a pillar, scourge him and mock him. They nail him to a cross. They wrap and tie up his body in burial cloths. They seal his tomb with an enormous stone.
But the more Jesus is constrained, confined and isolated in these outward and visible ways, inwardly he exercises more and more freedom, the freedom he lived and taught and ultimately committed himself to one final and decisive time in the Garden of Olives, moments before his arrest. "Father, not my will but yours be done!"
There is the key we need at this moment. There is the key to untie the knots that bind us up. The key to human freedom is actually the surrender of one's free will and one's life to the care of our loving God, whom Jesus taught us to call Father. We are only truly free when God's boundless love motivates us to respond with love in kind, selfless obedience to his will for us, the great plans and purposes of so loving a God beyond our wildest imagination. That grace-filled exercise of our free will is the way to freedom now and whenever we find ourselves constrained, confined or isolated.
On Good Friday, Jesus doesn't say "I am finished." He says, "IT is finished." On Easter He shows us, he is just getting started.
That is resurrection and the freedom manifest in Jesus who could not be constrained, confined or isolated by all they did to him, as he shed the burial clothes in which they tied him and burst forth from the tomb, the mammoth stone cast aside.
Let's face it. It's only now when we feel so constrained, confined or isolated that we can begin to see that we never were as free as we might have thought or pretended to be. What we thought was control over our life or lifestyle has so easily been pulled out from underneath us.
But still more profoundly, as we're drawn inward through all of this to search for a way to freedom, can't we all admit what Saint Paul spoke of in his letter to the Romans? "For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want." That's not freedom.
Holy Week traces the path of Jesus through constraint, confinement and isolation so that he may lead us along the path he forged to greater and still greater freedom, by the surrender of one's will and life over to the care of our loving God, whom he taught us to call Father.
During a time of pandemic, social distancing and shelter-in-place, we are not free to gather at the church and trace those steps in the Church's ancient ceremonies of Holy Week in an outward way, but the constraints, confinement and isolation of this situation do profoundly open up for us the more important inward path by which Jesus leads us to freedom and the full exercise of the human free will, surrendering everything to God our Father. One decision at a time. One holy moment at a time : "Thy will be done!"
As we come to the conclusion of what many are calling the "Lentiest" of Lents, I wish you the Holiest of Holy Weeks.
Get Your Palm Palm Sunday 1:00pm-3:00pm Drive-Thru Colonnade in the parking lot/school yard between the two School Buildings Blessed palms will be available for safe drive-thru pick-up on Palm Sunday at the colonnade pictured above. Please enter the campus from the Notre Dame driveway and exit by El Camino. Priests wearing masks and gloves will be standing at a safe distance to hand the driver palms as a reminder that we are entering into the sacred time of Holy Week, just as Jesus entered into Jerusalem and the saving events of his passion, death and resurrection.
Drive-thru Confessions
As you enter into Holy Week, don't forget we're here for drive-thru confessions in the parking lot/school yard at the Colonnade between the two school buildings map. Please note the special schedule on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Holy Week.
Monday – Wednesday of Holy Week 5:00pm-5:30 (Monday and Wednesday in English, Tuesday in Spanish)
No Confessions on Thursday of Holy Week
Good Friday 12:00pm -1:30 pm in English and Spanish Holy Saturday 11:00am -12:00pm in English and Spanish
(Priests will stay longer than scheduled hours on any day when demand is high.)
Feeling Stressed? Medical worries, financial worries or isolation can be so stressful individually. Put them all together, and it is understandable that you might just want to speak with someone you can trust. Please don't hesitate to call and speak with one of your Saint Matthew's priests. We're here to help. Call: 650-430-3520
We are excited to share with you a new way to give to St. Matthew's. You can now make a contribution through our mobile app --GivePlus Church. To get started, download GivePlus for free from the App Store or Google Play. Simply Search for "GivePlus Church" to quickly find and download the app. You can choose to donate as a guest or set up an account that allows you to securely and conveniently schedule recurring donations directly from your smartphone.
Thank you for being a committed member of our parish. Blessings, Monsignor Talesfore St. Matthew Catholic Church One Notre Dame Avenue San Mateo, CA 94402 Contact |