Paris (France) 04/07/2020, Sr. Véronique Margron by RCF.- A week, holy if ever there was one, it means a week that involves all suffering humanity. Holy would mean linked by sorrow, anguish, supplication, vigil, offering and hope.
Holy if it is to be, would mean that it is indeed where God comes, that the crucified one enters. Holy, if it is to be, it takes with it the collapse in all sense, of being locked down, empty, overwhelmed by sorrow. Holy, with our reasoning capacity of the mind, all the great sermons and great speeches are empty and are words without force. Holy, it is of the silence in which the intimate words of Jesus pierce all the humanity that He carries along with Him, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me? ", "I am thirsty". Silence which we confess with the eyes of faith which is naked and destitute, that Christ descends to the underworld, in his distress and stifled clamor, in his very pain. There he stands as a poor companion of all those who die too alone in these days, of those who weep for not being able to reach them. Companion of our painful helplessness. Companion also to those who struggle to live and keep others alive.
This week is truly holy if it gives evidence that the silence that reigns on earth is not the silence of every man for himself or of the strongest, but the humble silence of everyone, no matter how he implores. In the privacy of one’s home, by doing one's work modestly, by fatiguing oneself for others, having concern for their wellbeing, caring for one another and by simply living where we are.
Then yes, it is holy for us believers, Christians that we are trying to become, hand all this over as we can to the God below, the God of the cross who gathers up all anguish so that, above all, there will be no one left behind.
Holy Week, finally, if we can tread on the ground in this darkness like bunches of grapes so that the promise of life will be dawn with its free, physical and tangible traits at the starting of a spring morning, then finally will be the Easter time.