Easter has arrived and with it the end of the Lenten season. For this month, I would like to write about what Holy Week meant to me since my childhood, and how it has been changing through my life’s journey.
Holy Week for me in my childhood had only two important days. As you are reading this, I’m sure you are guessing that Easter Sunday is one of those two days, but let me tell you — no. The two days that were very important to me as a young Catholic boy in El Salvador were Palm Sunday and Good Friday. On Palm Sunday, attendance exceeded the capacity of the building. The capacity of the church was twice that of Ascension, but the worshippers that were last to arrive had to sit among the stones that were in the garden outside the church. On Good Friday, the streets filled with hundreds of parishioners accompanying the holy burial. For my family and most people that we knew, those were the only days we attended church throughout the year. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking and you are wondering what about Easter? I can’t tell you what an Easter service was like in those days because no one I knew attended church on Easter.
When I started going to the Lutheran church in my country, the celebration of Holy Week was a little different. The celebration of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday had the same level of energy as any Sunday of the year. There was nothing special about these days. I have not experienced Holy Week in El Salvador since 2017 and on that trip, our delegation returned home the day before Easter, so I don’t know if things have changed since moving to the U.S. ten years ago.
In my new life in the United States, the celebration of Holy Week is one of the things that impresses me in the Lutheran Church. Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday are all treated as high Holy Days, but the big difference occurs on Easter Sunday. On my first Easter Sunday, my wife told me, “This Sunday you should dress a little nicer than normal.” I was confused and asked her why. Her response was “Edwin, it is Easter.” My response, “So??” Finally, I listened to her and dressed a little nicer than most Sundays. To be honest, I thought that she was exaggerating. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the church, everyone was dressed in formal clothes for the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank goodness my in-laws had saved seats for us, because the congregation was nearly to the Hearth Room. I never expected a crowd on Easter Sunday. I was equally surprised after church ended, the conversations taking place in the narthex were about whose house people were going to be visiting for the day for their Easter dinner. I was so confused. I couldn’t understand why people were making such a big deal about this day. I didn’t understand why we were going to a dinner at my in-law’s house, but I enjoyed the party, even if I didn’t understand what ham was either.
Over the years, I began to see Holy Week in a new way. If we only gather for Good Friday to remember the suffering, but not on Easter to remember the resurrection, our Holy Week and our faith journey are incomplete.
This is true throughout the year, all of us will experience moments of anguish and pain, but in the end we have to remember that there is always new life. Our Lord, through his sufferings, death and resurrection has released you, me and all humanity. Joy is always coming. Easter Sunday is the most important holiday for Christians and should be celebrated in church, and with family and friends. Happy Easter!
Edwin Aparicio, Pastoral Intern
