In the name of the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen!
As we get ready for Holy Week, our Lord extends the same invitation to us who wish to see His glory, who desire to be by His side at the Holy Resurrection. Are we willing to be by His side, and to carry His cross with us during Holy Week?
Holy Resurrection is not just a Sunday on which we show up, having given no thought to Christ on the days of Holy Week. St. John Chrysostom rightly noted: “God is grieved not so much by the sins that we have committed, than by our unwillingness to amend ourselves.”
During Holy Week, everyone who wants to be a faithful disciple of our Lord Christ should do everything possible to renounce sinful desires and to place prayerful communion with God above all else. Here are some guidelines that will help you as you make the best of Holy Week!
1.) Follow the steps of Christ: Meditate on the events of the week one by one. Ask yourself: is Christ King and Lord over everything in my life? Do I, like Christ, turn down worldly glory for spiritual and eternal glory? When the church denounces Judas’ betrayal with a kiss on Wednesday of the holy week ask yourself in prayer, “How often, O Lord, have I betrayed You?” “How many times have I told You words of love in prayers, while my actions show the opposite and my heart is far away from You?”
2.) Use the Resources provided! There are YouTube channels with the prayers (Holy Week Prayers YouTube) done during the holy week. Our website has Holy Week Pamphlet and Good Friday Pamphlet’s to follow along with, and a short Holy Week TRIVIA quiz to learn from. Choose to listen, and prostrate alongside the prayers. Although we cannot be in our holy temple at this time, we can use the online resources we have available to us. We also have the gospel readings for the days and the hours for each of the days to read and contemplate. (Do's & Don't during Holy Week)
3.) Intensify your fasting. During Holy Week, each of us should increase the intensity of the fast. Reflect on how you have followed the fast until now. During Holy Week, continue what you do, and then do a little more. Consider eating smaller meals each time. St. Athanasius even declared that this period of Holy Week should be received with, “long prayers, fasts, and vigils prostrate (sigdet).” And again, the blessed saint says, “Let us thus engage in the holy fasts, as having been prescribed by Him, and by means of which we find the way to God.” Holy Week is a time in which we should increase our hunger for our Lord. Physical hunger reminds us that we need what God offers, and fasting helps us to focus on His enduring love. Fasting is hard, but remember the good gift which waits for us at the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Resurrection — the good gift of our Lord Christ Himself! Whoever puts the suffering of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ before Him will not take any pleasure in eating, drinking or pampering the body. But to succeed in pursuing asceticism, we must satisfy our souls with spiritual food so that we may thrive and overcome physical hunger.
4.) This is NOT A DIET. Do not treat it as such. Not feeding your soul with spiritual food every day, not attending church, watching television shows that pollute your mind and restrict you from gaining clarity, being around a company that does not help you spiritually or causes you to gossip, attending places such as parties and clubs during the fasting period weaken your soul by feeding the fleshly desires. Simply abstaining from milk and meat does not constitute a spiritual fast, but a diet.
5.) Feast time! The Bible is food for your soul, the word of God has the power to fight evil in your mind because it is the power of God. "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. " [Hebrews 4:12]. If you fill your life with it, you will notice the exit of pollution in your mind and the entrance of clarity and understanding in your life. Your spirit is hungry, feed it with the word of God.
6.) Create silence. How can you silence the distractions in your life during Holy Week? Will you disconnect or limit from your cell phone use, internet usage, and social media? (If any of this is needed for work or school, designate a window of usage of no more than a few hours). Will you avoid watching TV, or listening to the radio? Will lessons, sports, and social activities keep you from focusing your time fully on our Lord Christ? If so, cut them out. It’s only one week. The world will still be there after Fasika. When we create silence in this way, we give ourselves space and opportunity to be drawn by God and delve deeply into His words and actions during Holy Week. We remove some of the man-made barriers that separate us from “drinking from his cup” (Mark 10:38). And if we do not create the silence, then the noise of this world will easily overwhelm the “still small voice” through which the Holy Spirit speaks (1 Kings 19:12). To hear the voice of our Lord, we must quite the relentless cascade of screed and distraction we otherwise allow the world to pump full force into our hearts and minds.
7.) Listen to Mezmur! In particular, listen to the Hymns of Holy Week and mezmur (check our YouTube channel for a playlist of Tsom Mezmurs). Listen to the tone of the voice, pay attention to the words, on what day do we sing this hymn? During which service? What is the place and purpose of this hymn? The hymns of Passion Week create holy echoes that help to connect our worship with the rest of daily life. The hymns of Passion Week are moving and full of spiritual depth. They also preserve thoughts from wandering and directs them in a spiritual direction.
8.) Read the Holy Scriptures. Set aside time each day to read Widasie Mariam, Agpeya, Psalms, and daily readings of the church. Be sure to read the last chapters of the Holy Gospels from either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John that speak of the Passion, Death, Burial, and Holy Resurrection of our Lord Christ. Read the Psalms and try to complete the entire 150 chapters the whole week. And remember that in the Gospels, we do not only find words about Christ, but we also find words from Christ Himself. Each verse of Holy Scripture is a word spoken directly to us by the raised and glorified Lord. Each word is a word, for now, each word is a new word that you have never received before. Enjoy the gift!
9.) DO NOT STOP THE FAST. If you mess up, do not fret. "When we die, God will not ask us why we sin, He will ask us why did we not repent" [Abune Shenouda]. God knows temptation can get to us. By our willpower, we are weak. It depend on our Lord Christ to help you through this time. Tell Him you are struggling and He will strengthen you. Memorize a verse that you can repeat when you are in a time of temptation and keep going, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" [Philippians 4:13]. Breaking the fast does not only mean the dietary side but any aspect of the fast spiritually, that you felt you broke. Spiritually speaking, we fall all the time. What we must never fail to do, however, is failing to get up, to take up the struggle anew, and to begin to live again the Christian life.
10.) Think about Bright Week and Glorious 50! With Fasika comes the true light that enlightens the whole world and each person in it. As we unite ourselves with our Lord, the radiance of the Holy Resurrection changes everything. The week after is truly a Bright Week, the Holy Resurrection colors all with brilliance and beauty. Let this Holy Week be a launching pad into the rest of life. May we remember that every Sunday is a “little Fasika” and that each time we gather to celebrate the Divine Liturgy we proclaim our Lord and Savior Christ’s death and we confess His resurrection. And if every Sunday is a little Fasika, then every week is a little Holy Week. Each day of the year is a day on which we give thanks for the Holy Mysteries we last received, and look forward to being received by our Lord once again at the life-giving chalice. Holy Week and Fasika occur once a year, but they are the rule, not the exception. They are the models for every single week of the year. And this year we should try to be especially diligent to follow along with the Liturgy online with the church services provided for us. We should not be idle in our prayers, but more conscientious that God will have heard our prayers to bring us back to his sanctuary for the glory of His name. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ touches all of the time through the Cross, and all of the time collapses into the eternal now of His divine love.
May He guide us to live a life in the light of the Holy Resurrection!
Glory Be to God, His Virgin Mother, & the Glorious Cross, Amen!
Comments(2)
Hiryakos says
April 13, 2020 at 6:15 pmIt’s good
Yordanos says
June 23, 2021 at 2:25 pmKeep it up the good work May God bless you all those who work hard for us to find the resources.
God be with you all!
Church Season
Beginning on the 25th of Sene and lasting until the 26th of Meskerem of the Ge’ez calendar is the Rainy Season or Zemene Kiremt. During this time we remember God’s provision of food to all creatures. As it’s written in the Psalms 147:8-9 “Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains. He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” The rainy season is symbolic to the age that human beings spend on earth. This season is sometimes referred to as winter. St Paul writes in 2nd Timothy 4:21 “Do your best to get here before winter.” During the winter season we see the farmer going through all hardships to prepare his farm during this season. He has faith that he will get adequate rainfall for his crops so he labors tirelessly during this season. This refers to our lives, our faith should be like the farmer--we must tirelessly labor on earth and have faith that God will provide. Our work, though, is for the heavenly kingdom. David in his Psalm 126:5-6 ties this meaning beautifully, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Also our church teaches the formation of rain happens through the evaporation and condensation process. This was clearly stated by Aba Giorgis ze-Gasīcha around 14th century AD (G.C) in his famous book Se’atat, “He who contains the waters, scatters the thin fog. He raises the water from the lakes and brings it down from the heights of the sky.” All the readings of this season show how God provides for His creation.
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