Holy Week is like a roller coaster. We start with the celebration of Palm Sunday and Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem only to immediately drop into the throes of the Passion. We come back up on Maundy Thursday for fellowship and nourishment at the Lord’s Table and then plunge into the cross and death on Good Friday. We wait with breathless anticipation through Saturday’s Vigil and explore the light of the resurrected Christ Easter morning. For some people, this roller coaster of emotions is too much and they long for the swift end of the Lenten journey. However, I think it's important that we experience both the highs and the lows of the week.

I needed to experience the death and dying of Good Friday this year. With my growing belly and the gymnastics routine of the baby inside me, I needed no reminders of new life and spring. My body readily provided that for me. What I needed was a reminder of the cost of God’s love for me and my baby. I needed to see Christ "laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen" for me to fully appreciate God’s great sacrifice.

Other people find the Easter joy to be the most difficult part of the roller coaster. For those who have recently lost loved ones, the pain of Good Friday may seem more real than the joy of the Resurrection. For those in the midst of physical or emotional pain, Christ’s agony may seem more relatable than the elation of the disciples that Sunday morning. For the victims of violence and natural disasters, the reality of Christ’s mutilated body may seem more real than His resurrected one. For them, the Easter message that "love lives again that with the dead has been" is important. To know that “your touch can call us back to life again” provides them with hope and comfort.

Everyone needs to experience the paradoxical roller coaster of Holy Week. In some years, the cross and death may resonate more than the joy of new life. In other years, we need to be reminded of the cost of new life. "Raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen; love is come again like wheat arising green."

Contributed by Jennifer
Monday April 9, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 19
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
Sunday Gospel reading:
Easter Sunday