Agony In the Garden

Garden of Gethsemane

Agony's garden

While Peter, James and John slept

Jesus prayed and wept

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While we anticipate the joy of Easter, we must also share in the agony our Savior experienced.  For it is for us that He suffered and died.  Only because of Good Friday can we celebrate our salvation on Easter Sunday with our Risen Lord.  

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Happy Easter 

and

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!!

Holy Anticipation

Glory in the light

Wonder of our salvation

Glory be to God

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As we begin the holiest week of the year on Palm Sunday, let us thank God for sending his Son to die for us and thus gain for us eternal life.  I have always loved this week of the year, even more than preparation for Christmas.  From Holy Thursday, Good Friday to Easter Sunday I have an opportunity to be with my Savior again as He journeys to Calvary.  He died and rose for me, for you!  Take this time to be thankful!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!!

 

Oh, Friday!

Oh, Friday's sadness

Reminds us that our burdens

Are shared by true Love

Hoping all have a glorious Easter!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Good Friday

Love had died that day

The world trembled and went dark

The Savior had died

A mother's sadness

Her wounded and broken heart

Still trusted in God

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

Wisdom from Thomas Merton

I found myself personally touched by these words of Thomas Merton today. I was touched by the reality again of a LIVING church. A church that suffers in pain and is jubilant in celebration of our Savior. This reflection is from Lent and Easter: Wisdom from Thomas Merton.

With Christ in Our Bloodstream

The liturgical cycle renews our redemption in Christ, delivers us from the servitude of sin and from the corruption of a "fleshly" mode of being. The liturgical cycle shows us that though we are caught in a struggle between flesh and spirit, thought we are indeed the "fighting Church"--the Church militant--yet the victory is already ours. We possess the grace of Christ, who alone can deliver us from the "body of this death." He who is in us is greater than the world. He has "overcome the world," the life-giving atmosphere of the Spirit, and her blood-stream is cleansed of the elements of death. She lives in Christ, and with Him praises the Father.

Thomas Merton, Seasons of Celebration, 52-53

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Blessed Is He Who Comes In God's Name
As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen saying,

"Blessed is the king,
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in Heaven,
and Glory in the highest Heaven?"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."

Luke 19: 36-42

Prayer
Today I unite with every person, of every faith, who regards Jerusalem as their holy city. I consider the tears of Jesus. Wash me in your tears, Lord, as I ponder my ignorance of your peace.


Lenten Journal
Consider the rhythm of the liturgical cycle and how it can bring a life-giving cleansing to your life.

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I wonder why it is that I do not live each week as I do this coming week. As I further pondered these words, wonder how it is that as the life blood of the Church I sometimes seem to be so anemic in my practices. Why am I not more aware of my salvation to the degree I feel it in the coming days? The Monday after Easter Sunday is no different than tomorrow, yet my whole being is anticipating this week in sorrow mixed with joy! I AM saved. Yet the rest of the year I take it so much for granted that I don't even recognize who I am. I have for the last Lenten days worked very hard at being more understanding, compassionate, aware of other. In years past I have done the very same thing. Yet, I lose this willingness to to see Christ in others as also redeemed and fail to see Christ in them. I'm praying this year that this period of "life-giving cleansing" will continue onward...See Christ in all and continue to treat them as He as always treated me. I can do no less. I can only pray that I will not return with such zeal to the "servitude of sin."

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Thanks be to God!

Palm Sunday

Seeking Peace

A poem by G. K. Chesterton tells the story of the donkey Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The lowly and misshapen donkey speaks the entire poem and, after three stanzas of self-flagellation, brags that he had his hour:

One far fierce hour and sweet
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

However, the glory of the donkey is not only his privileged role in salvation histroy. The irony goes much deeper. The lowly donkey is an unimposing ride, a symbol of peace. It is contrated with the horse. Triumphal entries were usually the stuff of generals who rode their warhorses through the gate of the conquered city. Jesus' entry in Jerusalem is a mock of military might.

"Peace" summarized Jesus' whole life and message and sets the tone for his passion. death, and resurrection. At his birth the angels sang about peace on earth, during his life Jesus promised his follower a peace the world could not give, and "Peace" was the first word of the resurrected Christ of his disciples. also, when Christian missionaries visited homes, they were supposed to say, "Peace." Many think if the Christian faith could be expressed in one word, it would be "peace."

But personal and collective peace is as elusive as it is prized. We find ourselves interiorly anxious and fearful. We watch as our world continues old wars and begins new wars. Peace is what we hunger for more that what we feed on. But the desire to be at peace--with ourselve, with others, with the universe, with God--never leaves our heart.

Daybreaks, Daily Reflections for Lent and Easter
John Shea

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As we begin this Holy Week, please know I offer you all the the peace our Savior can give. I wish you peace at home, at work, and in your community.

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Thanks be to God!

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