Holy Week Call to Service

Every day at the Mount, we listen to a short reading from the Rule of St. Benedict at Morning Prayer. Today, on Monday of Holy Week, we heard a selection from Chapter 35: Kitchen Servers of the Week. I thought to myself that this week, the title could very well be “Liturgical Servers of the Week.” Holy Week especially reminds us that prayer is called the “work of God,” with extra demands on liturgists, musicians, sacristans, lectors, artisans who prepare the church environment, and those with other liturgical roles.

Every year, Holy Week is challenging for introverts, who don’t like to be front and center as readers or musicians; for persons whose health is diminishing and realize they can no longer perform liturgical roles or need help in doing so; for liturgists and sacristans, who have a myriad of details to attend to; and for all those who are called to set aside their usual schedules to attend practices, offer hospitality to guests, and participate in emotionally demanding liturgies.

At this time, it is helpful to listen to the words of St. Benedict: “The members should serve one another … for such service increases reward and fosters love. Let those who are not strong have help so they may serve without distress…. Let all the rest [who are not engaged in important business] serve one another in love.”

Holy Week offers a unique opportunity each year to meditate on the self-emptying love of Jesus. I once worked with someone who avoided Palm Sunday and Good Friday services because she couldn’t bear to focus on the details of Jesus’ brutal death. Yet we need this annual reminder that God suffered in the person of Jesus so we can know the depth of God’s love for us and realize that God understands and participates in our own suffering. We also need the reminder that, like Jesus, we will participate in Christ’s resurrection. Such mysteries call us to serve one another in love by creating Triduum liturgies that will help us empty our own hearts as Jesus did so we may know the joy of resurrected life with him.