Holy Thursday, 2024

Holy Week, 2024.  What does it even mean?  Well, to Catholics and other Christians, it is the Triduum, the 3 holiest days of the year, even surpassing Christmas:  Holy Thursday, the scene of the Last Supper, when Jesus washes the feet of his best friends and tells them service is the meaning of love.  Good Friday, when Jesus' love for the whole creation is shown in flowing blood and unimaginable agony on the cross of the world's salvation.  And, finally, Easter morning, when the women, going in sorrow to Jesus' tomb, have their world blown apart, rush to their brother apostles to say, "He is risen, as he said!"--and were not believed, until Peter ran to see the evidence.   

I heard the news today about criminal complaints being brought against Sean "Diddy" Combs, the music mogul (I'm afraid I couldn't name even one of his songs. Does he actually sing?).  There were already 5 lawsuits against Combs by people who dated or worked closely with him over the last 30 years. They make horrific claims of rape, forced drugging, sexual molestation, and abuse. 

Suddenly things got worse. 3 days ago, Federal investigators raided his estates in California.  He is now the subject of sex-trafficking allegations, including of a minor; and his alleged confidant and "drug mule" was just arrested and jailed.

But then, 2 days ago, a sweet picture and article appeared about all 7 of Sean Combs' children by 4 mothers.  (Call me jaded, but I assume his PR firm is on retainer 24/7.)  It repeated Combs' tweet from 2022, announcing baby No. 7, "I'm so blessed to welcome my baby girl Love Sean Combs to the world. (The other 6 children) and myself all love you so much!  God is the Greatest!"  

"God is the Greatest!" So "Diddy" and I could at least agree on that... but I do wonder who the man is.  Did he do these things to these people?  Is he a depraved narcissist or a numb robot who went on autopilot while raping an underage girl, drugging her drink,  turning her over to his buddies...and then became a warm-hearted Santa Claus while embracing his 7 children at Christmas? 

Now, in light of all that, I was thinking about a similar cognitive dissonance we might experience during Holy Week.  Here we are in the midst of celebrating Jesus' much-heralded triumph over sin and darkness:  It's Easter, get ready to sing the Alleluia's again, they say. Bring back the Gloria.  Christ is risen!  Death is no more!...

And then we hear about evil: yet another disgusting laundry list of crimes by a famous person; pictures from a war zone; an environmental disaster... a friend dies or gets a deadly diagnosis, or a divorce disrupts our life; or we hear about the abduction of a child... or see a pet dead on the road.  We think about all these victims—or maybe WE are the victim.  

Evil can be as small as a sharp word, it can be as subtle as political gossip.  Or, too often, evil can hit you like a sledge hammer—this is why the wounds of war, physical violence​ like rape or abuse, vicious narcissistic hatred, certainly the death of a significant pet or person—these​ are not things we "get over" easily.  They can blot out everything life-giving and comforting, like a blizzard of misery and self-destruction.

The point here.  No matter how we are being wounded by evil, whether it is subtle or catastrophic, and whether it is Holy Week or April Fool's Day—we need the Resurrection of Jesus.  We need to know, and even more, we need to make that further act of belief, that evil in all of its manifestations—from death on down—​has been rooted out and destroyed for all time.  For eternity, in fact.  That is the promise of the life and, more to the point, the death of Jesus, that death will not be the end—not of us, or of anything or anyone we love​.​ It is why Catholics hang up crucifixes, and why we make the Sign of the Cross on our bodies—to remind ourselves that the death of Jesus will open to us a new, living reality beyond anything we are suffering now.

The logical question: If Jesus has conquered death forever, why do we still experience evil?  Theology has many theories for why evil exists...and is evil the same as sin? Those are prime subjects for a future reflection. 

But tonight, as priests in churches all over the world are washing the feet of the people from the pews, I take my lead from Jesus who, as he washed the apostles' feet after his last supper with them, said, "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just what I have done to you."  

Until Jesus comes again, to usher in a new reign of peace, we do just what he has done by giving our daily lives to the service of each other, and to the whole creation, as much as we can. Whether we're playing the harp, cooking or gardening, wiping runny noses or bottoms, performing brain surgery, or re-filling the dog's water bowl, we wash away the effects of evil in our day and time by giving love in the form of serving whatever animal, plant, or person needs our care, warmth, and love. 

This service takes sacrifice and sometimes pain and exhaustion, but as St. Paul encourages us,"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”  2 Cor. 4:10

So when you're stressed and drained and need some comfort while trying to foot-wash the world around you—try​ looking up at a crucifix. Or, maybe sit down, put a cat on your lap, breathe easy, and make a few slow and peaceful Signs of the Cross.

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