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The Meaning of Holy Week in Troubled Times
- Mar 24
- 5 min read
I began writing this reflection after friends from Scotland asked me to show them, through a Zoom presentation, what is happening in the places we remember during Holy Week, the places our Lord walked in His final days leading to Good Friday.
As I prepared, I realized how deeply these holy places are woven into our daily lives. For us, living here is not only geography, it is a calling, a witness, and a quiet declaration of faith. These places are not distant symbols. They are part of our reality, places where history, Scripture, and tradition meet, and where we continue to encounter God even today.
Yet, as I reflect on this Holy Week, I feel a deep tension.
On one hand, places like Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Mount of Olives remain profoundly sacred. They carry centuries of prayer, memory, and hope for Christians around the world. On the other hand, these same places are now marked by restriction, fear, and uncertainty. Movement is not always free. Access is not always guaranteed. And the atmosphere is often shaped more by conflict than by peace.
This reality has also been acknowledged by the Church leadership here in the Holy Land. In a recent message, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, spoke about the deep sorrow felt this year as the Christian community faces Holy Week under the shadow of war.
He wrote that, because of the conflict, the faithful were unable to experience the traditional Lenten journey in Jerusalem with its solemn celebrations at the Holy Sepulchre and the holy places of the Passion. While many prayed and prepared personally, the community felt “the loss of the communal journey toward Easter.”
The Patriarch also confirmed that the situation has directly affected the traditional celebrations of Holy Week. In particular, he announced that the well-known Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, a powerful symbol of the Christian presence in the Holy City, will not take place this year.
Instead, he explained that “the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem is canceled and will be replaced by a moment of prayer for the city of Jerusalem.”
This decision reflects the difficult circumstances facing the local Christian community and the ongoing restrictions connected to the conflict.
This tension is painful, but it is not new.
At the heart of Holy Week, we find that God’s story has always unfolded in the midst of human suffering. Jesus’ journey to the cross did not avoid pain, injustice, or violence. He entered directly into it. He walked through it.
And so today, as we stand, even spiritually, in these same places, we are reminded that the resurrection did not come in spite of suffering, but through it. It is not only a moment of victory over death, but a living sign that God continues to work even in the darkest and most uncertain times.
Anchored in the Gospel
The message of Easter is not an escape from reality, it is hope within it:
“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
The empty tomb reminds us that no darkness, whether historical, political, or personal, has the final word.
Even in this difficult moment, the Patriarch encouraged the faithful not to lose hope. Reflecting on the present situation, he acknowledged the deep pain caused by the inability to celebrate Easter together in the usual way. He described this as “a wound added to the many others inflicted by the conflict.”
Yet he also reminded believers of Christ’s invitation in the Gospel: “Pray always and do not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).
For those of us who live here, and for those who carry these places in their hearts from afar, Holy Week is not just something we remember. It is something we live.
It tells us that God’s love is not confined by borders, and His peace is not dependent on circumstances.
A Call to Faith and Witness
In a time when even sacred spaces are surrounded by tension, Holy Week calls us not only to mourn what is broken, but to respond with faith.
What does it mean to live as people of the resurrection today?
How do we pray for justice and peace when the way forward feels unclear?
Perhaps the answer is simple, though not easy. We trust in the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11), the Spirit who continues to sustain, guide, and strengthen us.
The Patriarch also encouraged the faithful to respond to this moment through prayer, both in families and in religious communities. Recognizing that many believers cannot gather as usual, he invited Christians throughout the Holy Land to unite spiritually in prayer for peace.
He reminded the faithful that even when believers are physically separated, prayer has the power to unite them in hope and trust in God’s love.
Every prayer matters.
Every act of kindness matters.
Every decision to hold onto hope matters.
These are not small things. They are part of God’s ongoing work of healing and redemption in the world.
The holy places of Easter remain signs of God’s faithfulness. Even when they are surrounded by uncertainty, they point to a deeper truth, that new life is still possible even in the darkest moments.
As the Patriarch reminded the faithful in his message, Easter proclaims that no darkness, not even the darkness of war, can have the final word. The empty tomb remains the sign of the victory of life over hatred and mercy over sin.
As Holy Week is approaching, may we hold onto this reality: Christ is alive. He is present here and now. And He continues to bring a peace that the world cannot give, calling each of us to be witnesses of His love and hope.
For those of us who live here, these places are not only names in the Gospel. Bethlehem, where Christ was born, Jerusalem, where He carried the cross and rose again, and the Mount of Olives, where He prayed and wept for the city, are part of the landscape of our daily lives. We walk these roads, we pray in these churches, and we carry their meaning in our hearts. In times like these, when the land feels heavy with sorrow and uncertainty, these same places remind us that God has already entered our history. The story that began in Bethlehem, passed through the suffering of Jerusalem, and reached its victory in the empty tomb continues even now. And it invites us, despite everything, to remain people of hope.
For even in the shadow of conflict, the light of the resurrection still shines from this land, reminding the world that life, faith, and hope will always rise again.
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