I recently came across this depiction of the crucifixion on the wooden door of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy. This is one of the earliest surviving depictions of the crucifixion of Christ that dates back to 430-432 AD. I found the icon on the Twitter account Passion Week, which posts real time daily reminders of Jesus’ experiences throughout the week of Palm Sunday to Easter. I believe you can check it out with or without a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/passionweek).
This morning I listened to an audio conversation on the “1st Four Days of Holy Week” on Creighton University’s Praying Lent site. You can check out the entire conversation here: http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/Audio-Conversations/Lent-Conversations.html
But the following was, especially, helpful in posturing my heart and mind for this week : “Will you follow me? Will you lay down your life for me? That’s a question we can ask ourselves – how much are we really willing to lay down in our life? And, yet, really, this week is not about me to become self-absorbed. This is a week for me to be with Jesus. The focus of our prayer this week is not me. The focus of my prayer is Jesus and following Him in His story. And compassion for Him. He is doing this for me and the deep gratitude to realize the story and its retelling.”
I also appreciated Christine Sine’s reflections on Palm Sunday and following Jesus this Passion Week: http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/are-you-ready-for-easter/
Finally, here is the Collect from The Book of Common Prayer for Palm Sunday:
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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