How many of us have longed for a Holy Week retreat?. 

This week, with all of the COVID-19 updates, offers us an opportunity to contemplate faith, trust, peace, sacrifice, and praise. We get to hunker down, consider what really matters, and embrace simplicity. Yes, technology is keeping us engaged in the secular world, but we also have more time to dig deeply into meaning and  purpose.  

At a Holy Week retreat last year, I was given a hearthstone with an inscribed word. The facilitator instructed us to hold our stones, deeply consider the meaning of our inscription, and silently journal about it. The group was told to pray about the implications of the word in our own lives. There was no discussion, just intimate time with ourselves and God, a resource always available to us. 

Acceptance was my word, and I was not happy about it. I would have preferred energy or activity or change. Acceptance has never been my mantra. Now a year later, I embrace acceptance not as a passive act, but as an act of courage, faith, letting go, and trusting in God.  Acceptance is the act of being present for what is.  I confess; it was a long year. 

Many are disappointed over not celebrating Easter 2020 with their families, but faith and love prevail over distance. This week marks a faith-filled remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection, and it is also the most intense week of Americans doing their part to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19. In isolation, we have the opportunity to dig deeply into our own sense of Light, to recognize God at work in our lives, to prayerfully accept what is, and to rejoice in the hope of the Resurrection. 

This week provides us with quiet time for personal transformation that may indeed result in a better world filled with LIght. I accept that.