Holy Saturday & Patient Trust

This morning I began my Holy Saturday by reading the below reflection from Fr. James Martin, SJ., posted on his Facebook page. I thought it was timely and appropriate for my year of Patient Trust. A reminder that patient trust is also active waiting in hope!

Most of our lives are spent in Holy Saturday. In other words, most of our days are not filled with the unbearable pain of a Good Friday. Nor are they suffused with the unbelievable joy of an Easter. Some days are indeed times of great pain and some are of great joy, but most are…in between. Most are, in fact, times of waiting, much as the disciples waited during Holy Saturday. We’re waiting. Waiting to get into a good school. Waiting to meet the right person. Waiting to get pregnant. Waiting to get a job. Waiting for things at work to improve. Waiting for diagnosis from the doctor. Waiting for life just to get better. 

But there are different kinds of waiting. There is the wait of despair. Here we know--at least we think we know--that things could never get better, that God could never do anything with our situations. This may be the kind of waiting that forced the fearful disciples to hide behind closed doors on Holy Saturday, cowering in terror. Of course they could be forgiven; after Jesus was executed they were in danger of being rounded up and executed by the Roman authorities. (Something tells me, though, that the women disciples, who overall proved themselves better friends than the men during the Passion, were more hopeful.) Then there is the wait of passivity, as if everything were up to “fate.” In this waiting there is no despair, but not much anticipation of anything good either. 

Finally, there is wait of the Christian, which is called hope. It is an active waiting; it knows that, even in the worst of situations, even in the darkest times, God is at work. Even if we can’t see it clearly right now. The disciples’ fear was understandable, but we, who know how the story turned out, who know that Jesus will rise from the dead, who know that God is with us, who know that nothing will be impossible for God, are called to wait in faithful hope. And to look carefully for signs of the new life that are always right around the corner--just like they were on Holy Saturday.
~ From Fr. James Martin, SJ

Passion Week Hymn ~ In Love for Me

In Love for Me

This is my body, broken for you,
bringing you wholeness, making you free.
Take it and eat it, and when you do,
Do it in love for me.

This is my blood poured out for you,
bringing forgiveness, making you free.
Take it and drink it, and when you do,
do it in love for me.

Back to my Father soon I will go.
Do not forget me; then you will see
I am still with you, and you will know
you’re very close to me.

Filled with my Spirit, how you will grow!
You are my branches; I am the tree.
If you are faithful, others will know
you are alive in me.

Love one another – I have loved you,
and I have shown you how to be free;
serve one another, and when you do,
do it in love for me.

Vv. 1-2 Jimmy Owens
Vv. 3-5 Damian Lundy, based on John 14-16

Taken from: In Celebration of Love - The Washing of the Feet (The Art and Inspiration of Sieger Koder), Pauline Books &  Media, 1997.

Passion Week Reflection & Invitation

 "Imitating Jesus: A Posture of Love and Service"

I have been reflecting on Jesus' example of washing feet, as I prepare for Passion Week. My reflections were spurred on by the painting, "The Washing of Feet" by Sieger Koder. (You can check out the painting here: http://www.pauline-uk.org/productgroup2.asp?id=1937)

My reflections are now posted on This Ignatian Life blog, "Imitating Jesus: A Posture of Love and Service."

Here is the link: http://ignatianlife.org/imitating-jesus-a-posture-of-love-and-service/

In Love for Me

This is my body, broken for you,

bringing you wholeness, making you free.

Take it and eat it, and when you do,

Do it in love for me.

This is my blood poured out for you,

bringing forgiveness, making you free.

Take it and drink it, and when you do,

do it in love for me.

Back to my Father soon I will go.

Do not forget me; then you will see

I am still with you, and you will know

you’re very close to me.

Filled with my Spirit, how you will grow!

You are my branches; I am the tree.

If you are faithful, others will know

you are alive in me.

Love one another – I have loved you,

and I have shown you how to be free;

serve one another, and when you do,

do it in love for me.

Vv. 1-2 Jimmy Owens

Vv. 3-5 Damian Lundy, based on John 14-16

Taken from: In Celebration of Love - The Washing of the Feet (The Art and Inspiration of Sieger Koder), Pauline Books & Media, 1997.

Holy Saturday

I am still in Cordoba, enjoying a refreshing and restful few days of Semana Santa. I will return to Buenos Aires tonight by overnight bus, arriving just in time for the Easter celebration with my church family here.

This morning I started my day by reading this reflection from Alan Fadling on Holy Saturday. I thought I would pass it on...

http://alanfadling.com/2010/04/03/holy-saturday/

semana santa ~ passion week

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.

(http://www.liturgy.co.nz/virtualchurch/episcopalian.html)

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem...

"As he approached Jerusalem, and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.'" John 19:41-42

This Palm Sunday I was reminded of Luke's triumphal entry account. Jesus is getting all the worship and praise as he approaches Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, yet he weeps over the city. The gospels gives us two instances of Jesus weeping - first over the grief of Lazarus death in John 11 and now here in Luke 19 the week before his crucifixion. One commentator compares the two Greek words for weep here...

"I mention that because here again we see Christ weeping. What is not so clear from our English translation is the two words for weeping are different. In John's Gospel, the word refers to 'shedding tears'. If there are students of Greek here, it is the word 'dakruo': to shed tears. Silent tears: tears which well up in your eyes and overflow and course down your cheeks. Silent weeping, that is what we have in John's Gospel chapter eleven. Here it is a different word. It is the word 'klaio' which means audible weeping. The weeping which so suddenly seizes you that you lose your control and you cry out aloud: weeping together with visible, audible emotion. Indeed, you could translate this verb at verse forty-one like this - "He broke out with crying - He broke out with it." It seems to have been a sudden violent passion that gripped our Lord."

More then palm branches, this is the image that sticks with me today. Imagine Jesus' visible and uncontrollable weeping in the midst of or following all the joyful praise from the crowds. Probably not the response his closest friends and the disciples expected.

Yesterday I attended a memorial service for Grace Ogawa, who went home with the Lord at age 41 after a six-month battle with cancer. Grace was an encouraging friend who shared in the Journey Retreats I participated in the past two years. Jesus called Grace home the same day as my Uncle Don. So, tears are something I am freshly aware of this past week and yesterday.

I know Jesus weeps and walks with us in our sorrow and grief. But, his tears on Palm Sunday were about something else. He knew what the week ahead would hold for him. He wept over the city of Jerusalem because they did not grasp and understand what would bring true and ultimate peace. In the same passage, Jesus goes on to say, ... you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." My translation..."They just didn't get it."

Today I take pause in considering what I have yet "to get" about Jesus, His Kingdom, and His priorities for His Bride (the Church)! This Passion Week I pray that I may recognize more fully His reign and the Kingdom of God fulfilled in Jesus coming, death, resurrection, and promised return.