A little over five weeks ago we started Lent with promises to ourselves that this Lent would be our best ever. In reality, has it actually passed by unremarked except for some extra fish sandwiches? Either way, let us be determined to make the most of Holy Week by focusing on the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a disturbing and unsettling story. It is a reading that if we did not know the glorious and joyful outcome of Easter morning, we would likely not want to read it at all! Jesus tells His disciples as soon as they sit for the Passover meal that He is about to suffer, and this will be His last meal with them. From there it gets worse: the betrayal by Judas, Peter’s three denials, clueless disciples who fall asleep while Jesus prayed in agony, the angry Sanhedrin calling for Jesus’ death, the ambivalent Pilate who acquiesces to the demands of the crowd, and the beating of Jesus by the soldiers and, finally, His terrible suffering and death on the cross. When we finish the story, we quite understandably desire to leave this ugly scene and journey quickly to the joy of Easter morning. We want to experience the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to His disciples. And that is truly Good News. But wait, maybe we should spend more time this Holy Week at the Crucifix! Maybe we should stay a while longer with Christ crucified. For here is where the incarnate God paid the price for our sins. Forgiveness costs and Jesus paid the ultimate price for us. They were our sins Jesus bore upon that cross. Yes, Christianity is about the joy of the resurrection. But let’s not rush too fast to Easter this week. While there is nothing wrong with candy, egg hunts and new outfits, as disciples we too are called to pick up our own crosses and follow the path of Jesus. May we remember throughout this Holy Week what God did for each of us. St. Paul says it best, “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This is why we call it Good Friday. Reflection by St. Catherine’s parishioner, Dale Gerber.