As I sit here and look at the week ahead, I can’t help but anticipate the challenges that will transpire over the next several days. According to Jerome Adams, our surgeon general, this week will be the overall toughest for our country during the coronavirus crisis. He has gone as far as to say it will be on the same level as Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
Unfortunately, there will be a lot of suffering this week. The demands on healthcare professionals will reach new heights. Thousands will die. Millions will be impacted. Many of us will be tested like never before.
As we face these ensuing grim days, it will happen during a time that is near and dear to many of our hearts: Holy Week.
Despite the precarious state of our world, many of us celebrated Palm Sunday today, albeit in front of a computer screen. We reflected on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem but also on his Passion, the latter rooted in extreme suffering and darkness. As we journey through Holy Week, we will meditate on this pain AND experience in realtime the COVID-19 pain. What a challenge it will be.
But at the end of Holy Week is Easter, a time of redemption and victory. In his same warning to the country about the virus hardships that lie ahead over the next week, Adams stated that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Of course this light won’t coincide exactly with Easter Sunday but it will shine eventually. During these challenging times, I choose to use the promise of Holy Week to help me hold out hope that we will eventually triumph over this pandemic. Don’t Blink.