The Passion transposed into today’s situation
Who said there wouldn’t be a Holy Week?
Haven’t you seen the enormous procession of people, without tunic, belt or hood, having tested positive for coronavirus?
Don’t you see the Via Crucis of the care workers climbing the Calvary of the pandemic, overwhelmed by the power and pain of heartache?
Those who said that the Nazarene would not come out for this Holy Week haven’t seen the doctors with their white coats and their sensitive spirits, who carry the cross of the sorrow of those who are afflicted.
Can’t you see how many scientists are sweating blood and water, as at Gethsemane, as they try to find a vaccine or similar treatment?
Do not say that Jesus does not walk the streets this year, when so many people have to work in order to bring nourishment and medicines to the entire world.
Have you not seen the number of people from Cyrene offering themselves in one way or another to carry the heaviest of crosses?
Don’t you see how many people, how many like Veronica, have exposed themselves to the infection in order to wipe the face of people affected by the virus?
Who said that Jesus would not fall to the ground each time that we hear the chilling figures about yet more victims?
Isn’t it the vast quantity of care homes, filled with elderly people who are most at risk, and their carers, who are living the Passion?
Isn’t it like a crown of thorns for children who have to live through this crisis in lockdown, without really understanding and without being able to run around in the parks and streets?
Don’t they feel themselves unjustly condemned, all the schools, universities and so many shops that have been forced to close?
All the peoples of the earth, have they not been beaten and flagellated by the scourge of this virus?
Aren’t they just like the hand-washing Pontius Pilate, those in charge who are only looking to derive some political advantage from the situation?
Aren’t they suffering, powerless like the disciples without their Master, all those families confined to their houses, so many of them with problems, not knowing how and when all this will end?
The sorrowful face of Mary, doesn’t it reflect the faces of so many mothers and family members who suffer through the death and distancing of their loved ones?
Isn’t it like being stripped of their garments, the anguish of so many families and small businesses that are watching their finances vanish?
The agony of Jesus, isn’t it found in the lack of ventilators in the intensive care units of so many countries?
Do not say “there will be no Holy Week”, do not say it, because the drama of the Passion has surely never been so real and so true.
Miquel-Àngel Ferrés
Originally written in Catalan; this English version from a French translation
Fr Ferrés is Rector of St Peter’s Church in Figueres, a town between Perpignan (France) and Girona (Spain)
The original can be found here: https://lletraferitdevangeli.blogspot.com/2020/03/qui-ho-ha-dit-que-no-hi-ha-setmana-santa.html?m=1
[Illustration by S. Koder]
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