Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane 1746
Pinacoteca, Vatican City, Vatican
It seems odd that we call this Holy Week. After all, it’s a week when everything seems to have fallen apart.
“Holy Thursday” – Jesus asks for Peter, James and John to pray with him, but they fall asleep. He’s betrayed by one of his closest followers. Those charged with representing His Father are the ones orchestrating His demise. His trusted right-hand man denies Him.
“Good Friday” – Jesus is tortured, humiliated, abandoned and condemned to a death reserved for slaves who threaten the emperor. His own people don’t so much choose Barabbas to live as condemn Jesus to die.
“Holy Saturday” – The hope for the world lays cold and dead in a sepulchure.
But, as God told Samuel as he looked at each of Jesse’s sons, and as Jesus told Peter – God sees things differently than we do and His thoughts are not like ours. The week is Holy because it unfolded according to God’s plan – not ours.
sfnowak 
Thank you, Steve, for giving explanation as to why this week is called Holy.
When I was a kid, I used to love being part of the “audience” who shouted out, “Crucify Him” during the Holy Thursday Mass that re-enacted Jesus’ prosecution. I’ve always been short on common sense.
Today I see this week as Holy (Godly) because it is “our” second chance to acknowledge Jesus unlike those during his time who didn’t; to take pause from our life to be with Him during this special time of His aloneness and trial and not abandon Him; and to awaken with Jesus on Easter Sunday not to see a new world or even new landscapes, rather to see with NEW EYES.
Ultimately, how can we not give Jesus homage, praise and thanks?