So What Will the Market Do During Holy Week?
This is Holy Week for Christians. Actually, if you're Christian, it's more accurate to say simply that "It's Holy Week." How the non-Christian world sees it doesn't matter.
Put differently, this isn't Holy Week because we Christians think it is. It's not Holy Week for us. That's relativistic thinking. Such thinking implies that this week can be whatever you or I decide it is. It's Holy Week because, simply, it is Holy Week.
We'll get to why the embrace of relativism in our society has been a disaster for all of us. First, let's bring in something about the stock market.
During this Holy Week, the stock market will do whatever it's going to do. (If you thought we were going to look back at history and analyze what the stock market did for the last 98 years worth of Holy Weeks, forget it.) It hardly matters what you or I think is going to happen. And when the week is done, the prices of stocks will have moved either up or down or - least likely - stayed exactly the same as they were when the week began. It won't matter what we think of the price of stocks when Good Friday arrives. The price will be the price.
We'll know the price of stocks at the conclusion of Holy Week when the market closes on Holy Thursday (this coming Thursday). That's because the stock market is closed on Good Friday. Indeed, it's closed every year on Good Friday, not just this year. (We previously discussed this HERE.) When it's closed, it's closed. It's not closed for you or for me.
Why am I going on like this? Well, we know relativism has infected the world. Relativism takes what normal people consider objective facts and reduces them to subjective feelings or perceptions.
Once, everyone knew that killing an innocent human being was wrong. But now you'll find some who say that killing innocent human beings isn't objectively wrong. Not only will they offer circumstances where it's somehow acceptable to do so, but they'll baldly state that there's no objective right or wrong - only what's right or wrong for you, or for me. With such thinking - and I'm only slightly exaggerating - we may be a hair's width from absurd statements like: "The stock market is closed on Good Friday for you but not for me." Seems crazy, but the idiocy that relativism engenders knows no bounds.
The murky, misleading prism of relativism has caused much consternation for those of us who understand that, in fact, some things are true, some false, some good, some evil, some beautiful, some ugly. But our consternation isn't the only problem with relativism. The plain and simple fact is that it's both false and misleading. For falsity, consider how many of us believe that men and women are the same. (We'll push aside all those other so-called "genders" for now.) Any difference between the sexes has been reduced to various factors that all can be distilled to perception and projection. But men and women are different. Each has not only different characteristics and attributes, but also, generally different strengths and weaknesses - physically, mentally, emotionally. Really. You know that, right?
As for being misleading, consider what's happened to the education of our children. By denying the importance and value of what were once considered basic items any educated person should learn, we've now gotten an entire generation (maybe two) of complete ignoramuses. The transmission of basic notions of right and wrong, the ability to distinguish what's true from what's false, the distinction between what's beautiful and what's ugly, even a rudimentary knowledge and understanding of history and geography - all have been ignored or suppressed. Why? Because right and wrong, good and evil, beutiful and ugly are not objective concepts for relativists. What's right is what's right for you or for me; what's good is what's right for you or for me; what's beautiful is what's beautiful for you or for me. The result of this reltivistic view of reality: People who seem to behave and speak in a manner that's rational and intelligent don't know when the Civil War was fought, who fought it, and why. They don't even know where it was fought (China? Germany? Russia?). And yet these same people have been led to believe they're educated. Many believe they're intelligent. In a world infected with relativism, people for whom the Civil War is a complete mystery get away with this.
If relativism flows in your veins, you likely think Holy Week is in the eye of the beholder. Holy Week's significance or lack thereof relies on the meaning of Holy Week for you. But guess what? It doesn't rely on you. It remains, in fact, the most holy week of the year, every year. It commemorates the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even more than mere commemoration, Holy Week provides an opportunity for us to grow closer to Christ Himself.
The unique liturgies of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and both the liturgies celebrated on the Vigil of Easter, and Easter proper, provide unique graces from God. It is those graces that open our hearts and minds to what Christ did for us when He offered Himself as a Sacrifice in reparation for our sins. If you know that means, you know it's important. And if you know it's important, you'll be devoting considerable time and attention to Holy Week liturgies.
What about the stock market? Well, it's going to do what it's going to do - business as usual. S0 at this point, you spend whatever time you usually spend on the stock market, as you might any other week of the year.
When it comes to Holy Week, though, business as usual won't suffice. Because you see Holy Week for what it is, and not as a relativist would see it, it's going to take a central place in your life.
Relativists won't get any of this. Thus they will lose out on the graces that flow during Holy Week. Then again, they can always focus on the stock market. Instead of growing closer to Jesus Christ, they can think about making money.
Doesn't observing Holy Week seem more appealing?
Then again, it doesn't matter whether it seems more appealing - to you or to me - it simply is more appealing.
Put differently, this isn't Holy Week because we Christians think it is. It's not Holy Week for us. That's relativistic thinking. Such thinking implies that this week can be whatever you or I decide it is. It's Holy Week because, simply, it is Holy Week.
We'll get to why the embrace of relativism in our society has been a disaster for all of us. First, let's bring in something about the stock market.
During this Holy Week, the stock market will do whatever it's going to do. (If you thought we were going to look back at history and analyze what the stock market did for the last 98 years worth of Holy Weeks, forget it.) It hardly matters what you or I think is going to happen. And when the week is done, the prices of stocks will have moved either up or down or - least likely - stayed exactly the same as they were when the week began. It won't matter what we think of the price of stocks when Good Friday arrives. The price will be the price.
We'll know the price of stocks at the conclusion of Holy Week when the market closes on Holy Thursday (this coming Thursday). That's because the stock market is closed on Good Friday. Indeed, it's closed every year on Good Friday, not just this year. (We previously discussed this HERE.) When it's closed, it's closed. It's not closed for you or for me.
Why am I going on like this? Well, we know relativism has infected the world. Relativism takes what normal people consider objective facts and reduces them to subjective feelings or perceptions.
Once, everyone knew that killing an innocent human being was wrong. But now you'll find some who say that killing innocent human beings isn't objectively wrong. Not only will they offer circumstances where it's somehow acceptable to do so, but they'll baldly state that there's no objective right or wrong - only what's right or wrong for you, or for me. With such thinking - and I'm only slightly exaggerating - we may be a hair's width from absurd statements like: "The stock market is closed on Good Friday for you but not for me." Seems crazy, but the idiocy that relativism engenders knows no bounds.
The murky, misleading prism of relativism has caused much consternation for those of us who understand that, in fact, some things are true, some false, some good, some evil, some beautiful, some ugly. But our consternation isn't the only problem with relativism. The plain and simple fact is that it's both false and misleading. For falsity, consider how many of us believe that men and women are the same. (We'll push aside all those other so-called "genders" for now.) Any difference between the sexes has been reduced to various factors that all can be distilled to perception and projection. But men and women are different. Each has not only different characteristics and attributes, but also, generally different strengths and weaknesses - physically, mentally, emotionally. Really. You know that, right?
As for being misleading, consider what's happened to the education of our children. By denying the importance and value of what were once considered basic items any educated person should learn, we've now gotten an entire generation (maybe two) of complete ignoramuses. The transmission of basic notions of right and wrong, the ability to distinguish what's true from what's false, the distinction between what's beautiful and what's ugly, even a rudimentary knowledge and understanding of history and geography - all have been ignored or suppressed. Why? Because right and wrong, good and evil, beutiful and ugly are not objective concepts for relativists. What's right is what's right for you or for me; what's good is what's right for you or for me; what's beautiful is what's beautiful for you or for me. The result of this reltivistic view of reality: People who seem to behave and speak in a manner that's rational and intelligent don't know when the Civil War was fought, who fought it, and why. They don't even know where it was fought (China? Germany? Russia?). And yet these same people have been led to believe they're educated. Many believe they're intelligent. In a world infected with relativism, people for whom the Civil War is a complete mystery get away with this.
If relativism flows in your veins, you likely think Holy Week is in the eye of the beholder. Holy Week's significance or lack thereof relies on the meaning of Holy Week for you. But guess what? It doesn't rely on you. It remains, in fact, the most holy week of the year, every year. It commemorates the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even more than mere commemoration, Holy Week provides an opportunity for us to grow closer to Christ Himself.
The unique liturgies of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and both the liturgies celebrated on the Vigil of Easter, and Easter proper, provide unique graces from God. It is those graces that open our hearts and minds to what Christ did for us when He offered Himself as a Sacrifice in reparation for our sins. If you know that means, you know it's important. And if you know it's important, you'll be devoting considerable time and attention to Holy Week liturgies.
What about the stock market? Well, it's going to do what it's going to do - business as usual. S0 at this point, you spend whatever time you usually spend on the stock market, as you might any other week of the year.
When it comes to Holy Week, though, business as usual won't suffice. Because you see Holy Week for what it is, and not as a relativist would see it, it's going to take a central place in your life.
Relativists won't get any of this. Thus they will lose out on the graces that flow during Holy Week. Then again, they can always focus on the stock market. Instead of growing closer to Jesus Christ, they can think about making money.
Doesn't observing Holy Week seem more appealing?
Then again, it doesn't matter whether it seems more appealing - to you or to me - it simply is more appealing.
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