It's a Good Friday

 

“If you want to see just how far

God has fallen in love with you,

then look at Jesus – look at Jesus on the cross.”

 

Rev. Alan Jones, Passion for Pilgrimage

quote from today's Good Friday sermon

Good Friday

Photo of Mary’s 4th Sorrow – The Meeting

Taken at Monastery Memorial Gardens

from Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, CA

“God of Compassion, so many times we feel utterly helpless

when we experience the brokenness and pain in the lives of others around us. 

We feel incompetent when we see the many homeless persons walking the streets; 
we feel powerless when we see our world crushed by fighting and violence,

even in our own neighborhoods and cities! 

Help us to be men and women who are strong in faith. 

Help us to do all that we can do to assist others.

But above all else, help us to remember that it is when we feel most powerless

that we are able to act with the strength that comes

from your Holy Sprit of love and compassion.”

Arranged by Sr. Judith Rinok, S.N.J.M.

Seven Sorrows of Mary

While at the Mater Dolorosa we walked the ‘Seven Sorrows of Mary.’

It was in a gated garden surrounded by wisteria vines – such an aroma!

Below is the first station with the prayer of Mary

as she heard Simeon foretell the destiny of her son.

The mosaics were beautiful and the prayers profound,

especially as we journey towards Good Friday.

The First Sorrow ~ The Prophesy

The prophet, Simeon, foresaw that the child Mary held so lovingly in her arms

was the one destined to fulfill God’s plan of redemption for his people.

Simeon also knew that Mary would see her beloved son, Jesus,

enter into the mystery of his Passion and death.

And so, Simeon spoke of a sword that would pierce her heart,

a sword of sorrow in seeing the reality of suffering unfold

in the life of her very own child.

“Help us, Loving God, to remember all parents today who see suffering in the lives of their sons and daughters.

Some will suffer because of illness; others will feel great sadness at the loss of faith or love in their children’s lives;

still others will experience much grief because of addictions to alcohol or drugs.

Like our Blessed Mother, these parents, too, feel the sword of suffering and pain.

Help us to love and support each of these parents, as well as their loved ones, in such difficult and trying times.

Help us to bring life and hope to them in the midst of their struggles.’

Easter Monday

This is what our clergy feel like

after the marathon of Holy Week.

He is Risen!

They are Recuperating!

Good Friday

"He began in the darkness of a stable,
Loved in the twilight of Passover,
Died in the darkness of crucifixion.
Arms outstretched in the manger,
Still outstretched on the cross.
...Asking to be held at birth.
Asking to hold at death.
And past death?
Arms still outstretched."

- Donna Huswick



Good Friday

"The cross was two pieces of dead wood;

and a helpless, unresisting Man was nailed to it;

yet it was mightier than the world,

and triumphed,

and will ever triumph over it."

- Augustus William Hare

                 

Stinky Feet

Welcome to Maundy Thursday. This is the night that we wash one another's feet at our church in the same manner that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. So, being the clever gal that I think I am, I realized that a pedicure was definitely in order. After all, I had not had one since the day before I left for Ireland in October & I didn't want anyone to know that. What would they think of my nasty feet? Or more importantly, what would they think of me?


I called for an appointment but was told that they're closed until next week. Panic! I could have called another nail salon but something deeper began to arise from within....the thought that I am attempting to hide the real state of not just my feet but my whole self. God already knows the state of my feet and every other inch of my being and Loves all of me. Who am I trying to kid? People need to see the state of my feet with my bunions and crooked nails and with the lingering vestiges of red polish still visible in spots.

All week the thought that no part of following Christ can be sung as a solo has been knocking around in my head. Tonight is yet another opportunity to realize that I need the body of Christ. I need to hold & wash someone else's feet with all their corns and bunions and hairy toes. And I need someone to do the same for me. Just like Peter, who told Jesus, "no way" - I need to surrender those parts of myself that I think are the ugliest to the care of the communion of saints. Care to join me?

Jesus feeds Judas

At this morning's service we read John's gospel story in which Jesus tells his disciples that someone in the room was about to betray him. All were shocked. Mystified. Baffled. And wondered who it could be? Really? They didn't have an inkling? Nothing? Nada? Hmmm....When John leans in to ask who the betrayer might be Jesus replied that it would be the one he was about to feed. Then Jesus took a piece of bread, dipped it in the dish, and gave it to Judas....So I leave you with this encouraging thought to chew on which was also read at this morning's service:

"There is a Judas in me. When Christ feeds me, he feeds all of me - the sinner and the saint alike. He feeds my Judas. He loves even that part of me. He loves "the least of these" in me. He loves the parts of me I hide from the world and deny. That is a remarkable feeding. He does not withold anything - even his body and his blood - from such a one as I."  Forward Day by Day, March 31st, 2010 

artwork:  Kiss of Judas by Ante Barisic

A Colt's recollection of Palm Sunday

A Colt, The Foal of an Ass

by Robert Siegel

"Contemplating the dust he stands

in the direct unbearable noon, tethered

to the dead thorn. His long ears hang

down, twitch and revolve as the gang of flies

brassily land and bite and ascend

in a constant small black cloud. His hide

at each bite quivers and smooths out

like this earthquake-tormented land,

while his tail, with its bathrobe tassel, larrups

and swats too late.

His eyes, half-lidded

in the bleaching light, are fixed and still,

his plain, dull face perpendicular as a post,

his forelock hanging over it.

He does not

turn toward the stranger who stands talking

with the two at the door. Only his muzzle,

soft as silk and still faintly pink,

twitches as his nostrils catch the foreign scent,

widen, and lift his lip for half a second.

Then

lazily he turns to look, eyes glazed, indifferent,

tugs at the harsh rope once, desists,

patient with donkey patience, already learning

the rough discipline that pulled him from the grass

and his mother's side.

Now, without warning,

as if he feels a tremor underfoot,

some inaudible alarm from the world's core,

he bares his teeth and breaks the air with a sound

like a stone wrenched and crying from its center,

harsh and grating as a rusty hinge

on which the whole earth hangs.

Later

there is a moment with a crowd roaring

in surges long and hoarse as breakers crashing,

cool, green branches to tread over the hot stones,

and flowers which offer a brief fragrance underhoof -

one moment of all those in the years that are to come

of fetching and hauling for masters bad and good,

when he does not mind what he is carrying,

when a sense of joy returns, the early smell

of grass while he first stood, unsteady, in the field

with a beast's dim sense of liberty.

Still, he cannot guess what he is carrying

and will not remember this moment in all the years

until he is worn out, lame,

until the hammer is brought down on his unsuspecting head,

his hooves melted to glue, his hide thrown to the crows -

when he shall return to this now, this always,

he continues to live in,

this moment of bearing the man,

a weight that is light and easy,

celebrated in a rough, ecstatic chorus,

toward his own fatal burden heavier than the world."

taken from A Pentecost of Finches, New & Selected Poems
by Robert Siegel, Paraclete Press, Copyright 2006

the path

As we start to turn the corner

and see Holy Week on the horizon,

let us contemplate the upcoming journey

that Jesus will make on our behalf towards Jerusalem.

"You cannot travel the path

until you have become the path."

- Buddha

photo from this pilgrimage

Gethsemane

The grass never sleeps.

Or the roses.

Nor does the lily have a secret eye

that shuts until morning.

Jesus said, wait with me.

But the disciples slept.

The cricket has such splendid fringe

on its feet,and it sings, have you noticed,

with its whole body,

and heaven knows if it ever sleeps.

Jesus said, wait with me.

And maybe the stars did,

maybe the wind wound itself into a silver tree,

and didn't move, maybe

the lake far away,

where once he walked as on a blue pavement,

lay still and waited, wild awake.

Oh the dear bodies, slumped and eye-shut, that could not

keep that vigil, how they must have wept,

so utterly human, knowing this too

must be a part of the story.

Source: from Mary Oliver's book Thirst
Art: Praying at Gethsemane by He Qi

Maundy Thursday

being sick during Holy Week - the best week of the liturgical calendar - is not what i planned....but i am and so i invite you to read last year's post on Maundy Thursday....

Holy Saturday/ Easter Vigil

A big shout out to all the bees who have so willingly supplied the wax for tonight's Paschal Candle. Here is the prayer from tonight's service:
Dear friends in Christ: On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which, by hearing his Word and celebrating his Sacraments, we share in His victory over death.

Let us pray.

O God, through your Son you have bestowed upon your people the brightness of your light: Sanctify this new fire, and grant that in this Paschal feast we may so burn with heavenly desire that with pure minds we may attain to the festival of the everlasting light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amem.

Good Friday

In January I was reading the "Real Live Preacher" blog - which is owned and operated by Gordon Atkinson, pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in San Antonio. He traveled to the Dominican Republic to help set up a water filtration system with Edge Outreach, for a local hospital. While there he visited an orphanage where he met Stephanie, an 11 year old girl with a severe disability, who colored this picture and gave it to him. Gordon wrote an amazing piece that i'd invite you to read on his website about what he should/could or would do with this piece of art
http://reallivepreacher.com/rlparchive/ (scrolldown to entry 3). After all, he and his team had brought balloons and coloring books as gifts for these children who had so little (or so he thought) and this child's offering of the gift back to him truly undid him.

What does it mean to give like that child who had nothing to give and what does it mean to receive as someone who seemingly has everything? And how does that relate to the ultimate gift that Jesus gave to us? So this coloring of this Good Friday scene, created by Stephanie, which was a gift to Gordon, is now my gift and yours too - for we are all connected because of the Cross of Christ.

Maundy or Holy Thursday

What does that mean? Maundy is from the Latin word "mandatum" which means "commandment" and is from the gospel of John - "a new commandment i give you, that you love one another, as I have loved you". So we have the Last Supper and Jesus washing the feet of those He loved. I've come across several pictures of foot washing that bring forth various emotions - this one shows gentleness in the hands that lovingly caress the feet of a disciple. We don't see their faces so we can't tell if the one on the receiving end is feeling awkward, or uncomfortable.


But this one by Ford Madox Brown (1852-56) "Jesus Washing Peter's Feet" is definitely more realistic. Peter has given his arguments - "You will never wash my feet!" and Jesus has replied "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me". And look at everyone else around the table. there are looks of anxiety, curiosity, concern, and surprise & the man on the left is unbuckling his sandal, eager to be next. Could that be Judas? i see what looks like a bag of money next to him on the table? what do you see?

Wednesday of Holy Week

Rodney Dangerfield (and if you remember him you are old!) would have spoken of today as one that gets "no respect"......for Wednesday of Holy Week falls between Palm Sunday and the Triduum (Evening of Maundy Thursday through the evening of Easter Sunday).....but it is not just any old day. It is a Day of Reconciliation & aren't we all in desperate need of healing and forgiveness? So this is the day to reflect on our need for a Savior.

Today's gospel story was about Judas (the bad guy) betraying Jesus (the good guy)....as a child it was easy to villify Judas - the world was so much easier to divide into categories of good/bad, yes/no, etc. but now i see the Judas inside of me......for when i feel betrayed as he must have felt, i too betray. During the Morning Eucharist Elizabeth+ said that "when we are afraid of betrayal we withhold our trust". So true! Well Jesus was betrayed and still He chose to love us to the point of death. What a great Reconciler we have!

Tuesday of Holy Week

As we head into the last days of Christ's journey on earth I found this section of a book I'm currently reading (Servanthood - Leadership for the 3rd Millennium by B. Sims) to be one I'm spending some time thinking about - this whole idea of Christ as servant.........thoughts?

"We can't have it both ways. We cannot have a God who is an iron-handed ruler in remote control of the cosmos and, at the same time, a historic incarnation of that God who consistently defines himself as a servant. To those whom He most carefully instructed Jesus posed a question, "For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves' (Luke 22:27). Such passages force us to choose between a God enthroned in the power of imperial privilege and a God "disenthroned" in the more exquisite power of servanthood - unless Jesus is not really God's self-disclosure. If the Christian doctrine of God is to be consistent with the orthodox claim that Jesus is God's incarnation, then the cosmos is ruled by a self-giving Love who chooses to endure crucifixion rather than decree any abridgment of human freedom." p.17

St. Patrick's Day

How often does St. Patrick's day land in Holy Week? This is the first time in almost 100 years (since 1913) that St. Patrick's Day has not been celebrated on March 17th in the Liturgical Calendar (it happened on the 15th but don't tell the Irish that). It won't be until 2160 that this uncommon occurrence will happen again so thank God we won't be around to see that! So here is my tribute to my homeland...a verse from St. Patrick's breastplate that reminds us that Christ is indeed everywhere!

Christ beside me, Christ before me;
Christ behind me, Christ within me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me;
Christ in my lying, my sitting, my rising;
Christ in heart of all who know me,
Christ on tongue of all who meet me,
Christ in eye of all who see me,
Christ in ear of all who hear me.