Dear Parents and Friends of St. Michael’s School,
Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Throughout this week, our students will relive the events leading up to Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Today, we witnessed our fifth grade students presenting the Stations of the Cross, the path Jesus endured on the road to his crucifixion, including insults and intense suffering. It is sometimes difficult to pray the Stations because we do not want to think about how Christ was betrayed and abused, but Pope Pius XI argued that, “the Stations of the Cross are necessary so that Christians understand the magnitude of what was endured.” Further, Pope Pius XI suggests that praying the Stations of the Cross helps us in our own paths toward spiritual paradise.
This ancient tradition was established in the fourth century when early Christians visited the Holy Land on pilgrimages. Our ancestors in faith recognized that each individual station portrayed specific lessons, and the messages, regardless of time and place, are also significant in our own daily lives. For example, each time Jesus stumbles and falls, we grieve for His pain, but also recognize the pain and suffering as we endure hardships. When Jesus encounters His mother, and the women and children of Jerusalem, He is grateful to them for their love and loyalty, just as we are to the people who give us strength during our struggles. And when Jesus is ridiculed and laughed at along the way, we feel shame and sorrow because we may remember times when we were less than kind to others.
Pope Francis, too, iterates the importance of praying the Stations. When he addressed World Youth Day on July 26, 2013, he proclaimed,
“The Cross of Christ contains all the love of God; there we find his immeasurable mercy. This is a love in which we can place all our trust, in which we can believe.” He continued, “The Cross of Christ bears the suffering and the sin of mankind, including our own. Jesus accepts all this with open arms, bearing on His shoulders our crosses and saying to us: ‘Have courage! You do not carry your cross alone! I carry it with you.’
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And finally, “the Cross of Christ invites us to allow ourselves to be smitten by His love
, teaching us always to look upon others with mercy and tenderness, especially those who suffer,
who are in need of help, who need a word or a concrete action.”
Sometimes there is a tendency to protect our children from experiencing sadness or pain, but sometimes we can only grow stronger when we struggle. By helping children understand that they can and should turn to Christ when they are sad or sorrowful, because He understands our struggles, we give them a powerful tool for success and happiness. As we continue our Holy Week celebrations, our students are learning more about their faith, they are developing a closer relationship with Christ, and hopefully they are recognizing why we, as Christians, are called to love and serve one another.
You are invited to join us this week in our remaining celebrations: tomorrow we will be in the church at 1:00 PM for a prayer service led by seventh grade; on Wednesday, our Mass at 9:00 AM will be led by our fourth graders who will re-enact the Passion; and on Thursday at 9:00 AM, our eighth graders will lead family groups in a Christian Seder celebration in the Holy Family Center. I encourage you and your children to also partake in the rich liturgical services of the Triduum: Thursday evening, St. Michael’s Church will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:00 PM. Friday, outdoor Stations of the Cross will take place at noon, and the Passion and Death of the Lord and Veneration of the Cross will take place at 2:00 and 7:00 PM. Finally, the Easter Vigil Service will be held at 8:00 PM, followed by five Masses on Easter Sunday to celebrate the joy of the Risen Christ. May the upcoming Easter Season bring you and your family untold peace and happiness.
