Behold The Bridegroom

Yesterday we grasped branches of palms and pussy willows in our hands; we processed in the neighborhood surrounding our parish singing and stopping traffic, a cross leading the way; we rejoiced as we celebrated Christ's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem over two thousand years ago.

Today we have hung our palms over the images of our church family, the saints, and our exuberance shifts into solemnity as we begin to focus on the arrival of Christ the Bridegroom. Much will occur this holy week as we follow Christ to a place we would perhaps rather not go: Betrayal by an intimate friend; humiliation; cruelty beyond comprehension; pain, oh so much pain; and ultimately death as He who suspended the land upon the waters is suspended on a cross. By Holy Saturday, as Christ lies dead in His grave and the hymnography of the Church commands "all mortal flesh to keep silent," chronological time will have been intersected by kairos; it will be time for God to act. And indeed even now we begin to anticipate an act so cataclysmic that the entire order of the universe will be shocked and disturbed beyond recognition; wrong will be made right; Hades will be overthrown and Death abolished; Christ will be victor and not one dead will remain in the tomb. But I get ahead of myself for before the resurrection, there must be death.

And so today, I will repent anew of my utter inability to quiet my mind and heart from those stupid, illusory thoughts and idle distractions which plague my soul. I will pray for the strength and courage to mortify my passions which keep me from Christ. I will vow to stand vigilant so that I will not suffer the same fate as the foolish virgins whose lamps were deplete of oil when the Bridegroom arrived. With God's help, I will do violence to all my demons so that I may finish well and enter into the joy of that blessed and mysterious eighth day known as Pashca.

A blessed and fruitful holy week to you all.

Links to an explanation of the various Orthodox Holy Week services:

Bridgegroom Matins
Holy Wednesday (Sacrament of Unction)
Holy Thursday
Holy Friday
Holy Saturday
Pascha