From today’s reading in Isaiah: “I have set my face like flint.” Straight ahead. No turning back. There is no reverse gear in Jesus. The path is forward, and in the holy thoughts of Christ, “I will face whatever is before me this coming week, and I will remain obedient to my heavenly Father. I will have a few apparent moments of human weakness while my divinity remains unmoved.” The Son of God sets his face like flint this week. But in his humanity we will here, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We will see him sweating drops of blood in a garden when his closest friends could not stay awake with him for one hour. We will see him get hit in the face in the presence of the High Priest Caiaphas for telling the truth. We will see his body be torn to pieces by a scourging and crown of thorns placed on his head in cruel mockery. But he has set his face like flint. He will accept the world’s violence onto his body; he will cry out from the pain that accompanies the wicked violence; his heart will break a thousand times this week from abandonment, betrayal, and denial. But he will finish his mission come heck or high water. If a Cross is called for by his Father in order to bring people home so that our sins will not be kept against us eternally, then he will set his face like flint and “carry the tree.” We have, like Jesus, set our face like flint. There’s no turning back from this virus. We must set our faces like flint and move forward with determination, with wisdom, and with concern for one another. If we do this, we will imitate the determination, wisdom, and concern of Christ. When I watch parts of the news cycle, sitting just long enough to get the gist of where things stands with the virus, and not tuning in for hours on end which I hope none of us are doing, I hear enough in that time that touches on what’s called “the American spirit.” The American spirit has shown itself to be a spirit of resiliency and perseverance, a spirit of profound generosity at times, especially with natural disasters in other parts of the world. It’s a spirit of ingenuity, as we’re witnessing in the present circumstances where many companies have shifted their production from what they normally produce to what helps to slow a pandemic. The American spirit is, in many respects and areas of life, a spirit of care and concern, of reaching out, of accomplishing difficult work in difficult times. It’s not a perfect spirit by any means. Only the Spirit of God is perfect. And in our country, we presently need a good spirit, and the best of what this term accomplishes, so that we can move on to assist other parts of this world that grows smaller and smaller. But the American spirit must be built – for us – on the Christian Spirit. On the Spirit of Christ. It’s the Spirit of Christ that is the foundation of our lives, building up all other good spirits, including the American spirit. The Spirit of Christ is a greater and deeper spirit than the American spirit. God’s Spirit makes possible all the good of the American spirit. The Christian Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the presence and movement that carries us through all the Holy Week’s of our lives. Beginning today and through this upcoming Holy Week of separation from our Church, the opportunity presents itself under the most unique circumstances to reflect on the determination of Christ. The One who sets his face like flint. The One who says, even to himself, “Be not afraid.” Jesus says, “I have faith that my Father will deliver, he will come through at the end of this week. That he will raise me up on the third day.” Even though the Lord is raised up in another way today with adoration and praises – “Hosanna to the son of David – Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” – and enjoying every minute of it, he knows full well that he must set his face like flint this week despite all the coronavirus to be thrown at him. And, we must do the same. We do the same with our American spirit. But much more with the foundation, our Christian spirit. The Christian Spirit, the Spirit of Holy Week, is our spirit that will sweat blood at times – something we’re all familiar with right now. The Christian spirit knows the sorrows of loss and abandonment. We’ve been abandoned by our normal routine of practicing our faith, or our labor, of school, of shaking hands and hugging. But it’s the Christian spirit of Holy Week, Jesus’ Spirit over these next few days, that keeps moving us forward to victory. Live in the Spirit of Christ this week like you’ve never done before. Incorporate our American spirit into our faith, for sure. But Christ is the way, the one foundation of our lives. He has set his face like flint. No human viruses are going to stop this Divine Person from winning his victory. The Son of God is determined. He is the source of our energy for this Holy Week. Thanks be to God.