T. 20. I. 1 – 3. Jesus: “This week that began with Palm Sunday is the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God’s Son, but live it happily in the celebration of his release.
For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain! A slain Christ has no meaning for Christ cannot die. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God’s forgiveness on himself; the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.
This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. Let no dark symbol of crucifixion enter your mind to intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the acceptance of the truth and its expression in you. This week we celebrate life, not death. We therefore honor the perfect purity of the Son of God, and not his imaginary ‘sins!’ Offer to your brother now the gift of lilies, not a crown of thorns; the gift of love and not ‘the gift’ of fear.
Perhaps you stand beside your brother, a crown of thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give but knowing you must choose. Join now with me and you will cast away the thorns, offering the lilies in their stead!
This Easter I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered me, that it may be returned by me to you! Yet we cannot be united in thoughts of crucifixion and of death. Nor can the resurrection be complete ’til your forgiveness rests on Christ, along with mine.
A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. He started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection, already given him. Let your brother not wander into the temptation of crucifixion, and delay him there.”