This year, we are being invited to live the experience of Holy Week in a way that is different from the way that we may have done so in the past: students and teachers who have been enjoying an extended Spring break are still at home with their families but are now engaging in e-learning in a way that many of them have never done before; health care workers and first responders are having to risk their lives in order to care for others in situations that have never been experienced in our lifetime; and everyone is being told to stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for us to run errands, and even then, we must keep a safe distance between us at all times. These new realities have changed us already to some extent, yet we can understand and accept them more easily if we always keep before us the understanding that they are part of a global call to service: each of us doing our part to flatten the curve in order to take care of our brothers and sisters.
God does work in strange ways. Could it be that this experience is meant to give us all a new perspective? Could it be that we are being called to see ourselves as servants of one another? Could it be that we are being invited to associate ourselves with a new identity?
The prophet Isaiah calls out to distant lands, saying to them and to us: The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me a name (Is 49: 1). If the Lord called Isaiah to speak his words to his brothers and sisters, could it not be that the Lord is calling us to do the same? It can be a daunting task to be called in this way. Responding to God's invitation is something that we should never take lightly, yet the truth is that God needs every one of us to do our part: I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Is 49: 6).
How is God calling us? What is God asking us to do? These invitations come in all shapes and sizes. Some of us are being called to explore new avenues of reaching out to children and young people, others are being asked to self-isolate, and still others are being asked to engage in more dangerous activity ... but all for the same purpose. Our God is present even now, inviting us as he invited the disciples to play different roles, but always with the same purpose: so that God's glory might be made known.
Did Judas understand that he was being asked to participate in making God's glory known when Jesus said to him: What you are going to do, do quickly (Jn 13: 27)? Did Peter understand that even his denial would be part of helping all of us to understand that it is not always easy to follow Jesus (cf Jn 13: 36-38)? Likewise, we may not understand how it is that God is calling us at this time to make God's glory known. Only in the light of Easter morning will we begin to comprehend the truth of our identity as disciples.
Have a great day.
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