We did it, we reached Holy Week.

Yesterday morning was the annual Palm Sunday Sonrise Hike with the youth.

We met at 5 a.m. and as pilgrims of hope, hiked up Mount McCoy to the huge white cross.

Youth, a child and a dad took turns carrying the large wooden cross from the Youth Center up and down the trail.

We stood up there, Heaven and Earth connected as the sun rose.

We prayed the Stations of the Cross together, then hiked back down.

Later in the day one of the kids that was on the Sonrise Hike told me that they really thought about all Jesus went through in a way they never had before. They asked me if Jesus cried, or no because He was God.

The second reading from the coming Good Friday service answers that question:

In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Hebrews 5:7

Yes, Jesus felt pain and cried.

The pain of grief when His friend Lazarus died.

As we heard in yesterday’s Gospel and will hear again on Good Friday, the pain of terrible fear and anxiety the night before His arrest.

And horrible physical pain as He was whipped, as a crown of thorns was pushed into His head, as He carried the cross, and as He was crucified.

Yes, Jesus felt pain. He cried out with tears to God our Father. 

During the Holy Triduum this week, which is Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, such profound blessings come through hearing the stories of Jesus.

So perfectly human, feeling anxiety, abandonment, betrayal, and physical pain. We can turn to Him in our pain and know that He really gets us and find comfort in that. We can be inspired by His trust in God’s grace in His moments of pain and do the same – cry out to God ourselves and trust in His gift of grace.

So perfectly divine, being unconditional mercy and love for each of us through His suffering and dying on the cross. Filling our souls with the hope of eternal life through His resurrection.

I hope you come to church on those three holy days this week and let the perfectly human and divine Son of God bless you.

Holy Week blessings!