The Gospel of Mark, 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large,  had already been rolled back.  As they entered the tomb they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  But He said to them, "Do not be alarmed: you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is  the place where they laid him.But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'" So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Holy Saturday, April 11

Scripture for the Day:  

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. – John 19:38-42

At Black River

All day

  its dark, slick bronze soaks

    in a mossy place, 

       its teeth,

a multitude

  set

    for the comedy

      that never comes-- 

its tail 

  knobbed and shiny, 

    and with a heavy-weight's punch 

      packed around the bone. 

In beautiful Florida

  he is king  

    of his own part

      of the black river, 

and from his nap 

  he will wake 

    into the warm darkness

      to boom, and thrust forward,  

paralyzing 

  the swift, thin-waisted fish

    or the bird

      in its frilled, white gown,

that has dipped down

  from the heaven of leaves

    one last time

      to drink.

Don't think

  I'm not afraid.

    There is such an unleashing

       of horror.

Then I remember:

  death comes before 

    the rolling away

      of the stone.

Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early

Beacon Press, 2004

Good Friday, April 10

Scripture for the Day:

 

 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”    – John 12:27-35

Reflection – Ralph Nazareth 

 “Now, don’t you fall asleep with Peter and James and John,” I hear my mother whispering to me. And I’m back there again in that world of shadows.

 The hour is late, Jesus sweats blood, pleading with his Father to let the cup of sorrow pass over him, and I am in the pathetic huddle of men, overcome by sleep. This vivid and troubling memory is for me inseparable from the persistence of guilt in my life.

 Yet, I’m drawn, although with deep trepidation, by this very same sense of failure, to the Gethsemane of the Synoptics more readily than to the scene outside the temple in Jerusalem that John describes in the reading for the day. The passion and desolation of Jesus in the former penetrate me to the core and vivify me in a way that the apparent triumphalism of the latter does not. Do I then refuse to be counted among the “children of light” if I stay with the man who says, “Now my soul is troubled…”? And know that the only true rising is at the zero hour when he is “lifted up from the earth” on Golgotha?

Maundy Thursday, April 9

Scripture for the Day:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Reflection – Kate Heichler 

 Why is this night different from all other nights? I don’t know if that question was part of the Passover observance in Jesus’ time, but Jesus’ disciples could not have imagined how different this night would be from all other nights that ever had been or ever would be.

 Maundy Thursday is for me the most sacred night of all the sacred nights. It is a threshold from regular chronos time into God’s kairos time, a night when the membrane separating heaven  and earth becomes wafer-thin. We gather and celebrate and commemorate a meal at which everything became subverted, no expectation met unchanged. Jesus takes the familiar prayers of blessing and distorts them with shocking words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He takes a ritual of hospitality with which a host would normally greet guests and enacts it after the food, lowering himself to wash his disciples’ feet, an act of intimacy and humility that challenges our self-sufficiency as much as it did theirs.  And after supper he goes into the night to accept the most intimate of humiliations, not fighting, but subverting human pretensions of control with love and truth.

 And so we eat and wash and bless and pray, and walk together into the three-day dream sequence we relive every year, in which God and humanity meet on a cross of brutality,

 in which heaven and earth come crashing together and the whole mortal order of things is overturned, once and for all. Death swallowed up by life. Here it begins, our sacred mystery. Stay awake. Watch and pray.

To ponder and pray: Will you accept the gift and discomfort of allowing someone else to wash your feet tonight? Someone who stands in for Jesus?   If not, in your prayer today tell Jesus why you won’t allow him that privilege. How does He answer you? If yes, invite Him to open your heart to God’s transforming life in the encounter.  

Wednesday in Holy Week, April 8

Scripture for the Day:  

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” – John 12:20-26

What hard travail God does in death!

He strives in sleep, in our despair,

And all flesh shudders underneath

The nightmare of His sepulcher;

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;

All night the cold wind heaves and pries;

Creation strains sinew and bone

Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bent, pent in seed, grows straight

And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising

The merely dead, graves fill with light

Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

- Wendell Berry,  Sabbaths North Point Press, 1987

Tuesday in Holy Week, April 7

Scripture for the Day:

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.  – John 12:1-11

Reflection – Niall McMorrow 

Imperfect by design. Unconditionally loved. Perfection.

inspired by:  Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers, by the editors of Smith Magazine.

Monday in Holy Week, April 6

Scripture for the Day:

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.” – John 13:21-32

Reflection –

Jesus is being betrayed by one of His own disciples and then He tells them to love one another as He has loved them. What are the disciples to think? He will be leaving them and they will be left on their own to carry out His mission. Will their faith in His teachings carry them along?

As a high school teenager I was faced with my own question of faith in God. Along came a friend carrying our Jesus’ command to love one another. She wrote the following poem for me when we were counselors at a church summer camp:

Dear child, lift thy burdened thought,
And listen to the Word,
Let not the voice of shattered faith,
Within your heart be heard.

Bind up the wounds of sadness,
Caress the hands of care,
And know that in your trouble,
God’s love is everywhere.

Watch as the fading darkness,
Gives way to heaven’s light,
Lift up your head in gladness,
To worship in delight.

Sweet child of God, be not afraid,
Doubt not the power of love,
Fling wide your arms to happiness,
Seek comfort from above.

And as the clouds are breaking,
To let the sunbeams thru,
Smile up at God and thank Him,
For always guiding you.

Saturday, April 4

Scripture for the Day:    Many of the Jewish leaders therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. – John 11:45-53

Reflection – Diane Riffelmacher 

After being away from my church for 39 years, and finding myself alone due to the death of my husband, I found  that I was missing something in my life, so I decided to reconnect with my religion. I have found it very rewarding and fulfilling meeting new friends with a common goal of growing the church and doing good works for those less fortunate.  I now know  that I made the right decision.  Needless to say, my spiritual life has been awakened, revisited and restored.  It has brought me so much solace, tranquility and happiness.

Friday, April 3

Scripture for the Day:    The Jewish leaders took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. – John 10:31-39

Reflection – Patsy Whitman 

I have shown you many good works from GOD … can you say that the one whom GOD has sanctified   …“I am God’s Son” If I am not doing the works of GOD, then do not believe me …     so that you may know and understand that GOD is in me and I am in GOD …

Please note that I have changed the word “father” to GOD … he/she is in each of us

But as I write this I find it difficult to understand our GOD who took from us two wonderful people who were so vital to their families, their friends, and their communities. The saving grace was that they were killed instantly and were spared a life of devastating injuries if they had remained alive.

As a small child on a visit from Dallas to Manhattan with my mother & father we went to hear preach Dr Norman Vincent Peale the author of a book that my mother dearly loved called The Power of Positive Thinking. Because of that ancient visit I was compelled to read an article in the Times on Feb 2 about the retirement after 24 years from Marble Collegiate Church of Dr Peale’s successor, Rev Dr Arthur Caliandro. Dr Caliandro “navigated the waters of the post- Peale era.” Among his many accomplishments he made a meeting space for the gay members of the church and put women on the church board for the first time. “Really what it is all about is Love”

The essence of Christianity is Love.

This would have made my mother very happy … she would have smiled.

Thursday, April 2

Scripture for the Day:    Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’  The Jewish leaders said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. – John 8:51-59

Reflection – Ed Tucker 

The best way to live is to be honest and open.  Rather than keeping to yourself, be outgoing, smiley and helpful. Greet people and be the first to open a conversation with anyone you come in contact with at work, at the gym, and on the street.  Be interested in how people are, and what they are thinking about on any subject.   If people are having a bad day, listen to what is going on and be supportive.  Never be involved in gossip.  If someone seems angry with you, listen to what they say, try to explain yourself, and move on.  It is amazing how well this approach to life works.   

Wednesday, April 1

Scripture for the Day:      Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’    Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there   for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’   They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. – John 8:31-42

Reflection – Mark Ledermann  

And we ask: Where is true life found?

Jesus challenges us: Within the truth.

 The truth?  Where is truth found? Is it found within us? What we have learned, what our traditions have given us? What we have been able to grab a hold of to make sense of life?

 Is that life-giving truth?

 And we hear in our own fears and uncertainties, and see in the world’s strife, that truth grounded in us is a dead-end. An empty place.

 And along comes Jesus who offers us more. And we struggle. And bargain. And insist that the truth we know is the truth to be known. Because to move from even a dead-end truth is hard.

And Jesus persists. He does not give us up: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Jesus reaches out to us as the rescuing truth open to all.

For everyone. Everywhere.

The Word made flesh.

A life-giving place.

 

Tuesday, March 31

Scripture for the Day:

 

Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ Then the Jewish leaders said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.  And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him. – John 8:21-30

Reflection – Madeleine Cheslow

For me Lent is a time for reflection. It is a good time to practice true humility, true modesty and being less materialistic. In my childhood, I remember we did not eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, things I still practice. On the one hand, I do not know if it means something, i.e. like a little sacrifice (privation), on the other hand, I guess I will feel guilty If I don't. If by any chance, I eat meat, on those days, without realizing and being conscious of it, I just say to God, I forgot and ask for forgiveness. In fact, in these instances, I do not feel too guilty because I know the Lord is always ready to forgive and understands that the human being is more inclined to sin. 

Monday, March 30

Scripture for the Day:

[Then each of them went home,]while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ - John 8:1-11

Reflection – Brandon  and Janice Reyes

Over the past year our life has been full of little else but laying the foundation for our brand new family. We feel incredibly blessed, and most of the time it is full of happiness and celebration.  Like any couple with children, however, we have had our moments. We don't always do what we should, and occasionally tempers can rise and thoughtless words are said. Sometimes it's for a very valid reason; sometimes not. It happens because we loose focus on ourselves and begin to put the other under the microscope of spousal perfection. Christ reminds us that it is not our place to condemn, even if the reason is valid and as clear as day. We are to look at ourselves once again through Jesus' eyes, through the microscope of God, and strive with His help to “sin no more.” Only when we are working on this together does our family begin to realize the fullness that God intends for all of us.

Saturday, March 28

Scripture for the Day:  On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.    When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.     – John 7:37-44

Reflection – Joyce Finch 

I have a 2-year old granddaughter who I take of while her Mum and Dad work. One day things were going along great, as usual, then Sara let out a terrible cry and screamed, “Nanny, Nanny!” (I think a motor cycle had roared past the house; something loud.) She came running to me, scared and crying. I scooped her up, her little arms shot round my neck, and she really held on tight. I soothed her, told her what the noise was, and she calmed down and toddled back off to what she was doing.

When I thought about this exercise, it made me think of Sara running to me with complete trust that I was going to protect her and keep her safe. Wouldn’t it be great if each time we got scared, we’d run to Jesus and throw our arms around his neck and hold on tight with the trust of a two-year-old?

To ponder and pray:   What is your greatest fear? Can you ask Jesus to come and sit by you,  and hold it for you for awhile? Stay with that in your imagination… see what happens.     (Warning: Fear is icy… Jesus is hot. It may not survive his touch…)

Friday, March 27

Scripture for the Day:     After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret.    Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I am from.  I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. – John 7:1-2,10, 25-30

Reflection – Debra Slade 

I sometimes recall the song by Joan Osborne which says: “What if God was one of us?” It is most often in Lent that I reflect on the man Jesus, and what it was for him to be both fully human and fully divine.  Jesus, the Christ, was one of us for a short period of time, and in doing so, experienced all of the emotions, the feelings that we have as well. In the Gospel reading, the people doubt that the Jesus they meet in the temple is the Messiah because they know where he is from. Jesus acknowledges that they do know that part of him which is like them, the familiar, knowable, human part.  But he also tells them that there is another part – the divine part which is not known by them.   

What makes the stories of Jesus so compelling is the tension between these two parts of him – the knowable and the unknowable. In the Gospel of John, the human fate – death, and the God purpose – resurrection and  salvation, are spoken of by Jesus before they occur, as the given.  He was not arrested in the temple “because his hour had not yet come.”  We start off Lent with Ash Wednesday remembering “we are dust and to dust we shall return.”   Our human fate, like Jesus’ is certain. Not dying is not an option.  But with that knowledge, we can, and should, practice seeing every day, every hour, every minute as a gift; our life as a gift from God.  

Thursday, March 26

Scripture for the Day:      Jesus said, ‘I can do nothing on my own.   As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John,  and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. – John 5:30-37a

Reflection - Linda Atkins

If you asked me, I would probably not describe myself as a spiritual person. My faith in God has always been a part of my identity, but it was immature, a function of memorized catechism and rote prayers that were part of my Catholic upbringing.   A faith set on the back burner through much of my adult life, until the responsibility of bringing faith to my children interceded.  The journey to explore and deepen my faith is still continuing. I can honestly say that the presence of God in my life today makes me feel supported and loved, and blessed in so many ways. Prayer is beginning to be more a part of my life, remembering to thank Him as well as feeling able to ask, too. The bumps in the road don’t seem so scary, because I’m learning to turn to God for help.  

Wednesday, March 25

Scripture for the Day:     Jesus said to them, The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that  all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 ‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do   not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.       – John 5:22-29

Reflection – Ed Happ 

"For the theme of judgment in the Gospel text I believe the word of grace prevails.  Here is a poem that tells such a story, written about my daughter twenty years ago."

Beauty

It is an early day of spring,

the budding daffodil stems

bend and flow with the light

wind and rain sweeping through.

 

I am going to see my daughter,

the gymnast, of the varsity team.

She has been tumbling since

the age of five.

 

I come to watch her stretch

and move with grace,

each year more lithesome

than the last.

 

Yet she tells me at the break,

“I’m overweight.”

I search for the shadow

cast by her wiry frame.

           

“Really?” I say.

“Yes,” she is serious,

speaking a thousand

voices of subtle judgment.

 

Being of linear mind       

(which men are wont to do),

I ask if she would line up

in her mind       

her entire high school class

from thin to thick.

Where would she fall,

among the other girls,

the budding flowers?

 

With difficulty, head down,

she nods when I say,

“well below the average then?”,

(for a young woman, this is

her entire high school class

the realm of imaginary numbers).

She looks up at me

with eyes that say,

“you don’t understand.”

So I tell her how

beautiful she is,

and her head is down again,

but I see the edges of a smile.

                       

“Dad, I  love you.”

 

I hug her close

and kiss

the top of the stems

of her hair.

Calling for the sun,

I wonder how

so many flowers,

hide as weeds

before the petals

open to reveal

the angel

hiding there.

Tuesday, March 24

Scripture for the Day: 

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath… Therefore the Jewish leaders started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.  . – John 5:1-9, 16-18

Sabbaths    by Wendell Berry

Who makes a clearing makes a work of art,

The true world’s Sabbath trees in festival

Around it. And the stepping stream, a part

Of Sabbath also, flows past, by its fall

Made musical, making the hillslope by

Its fall, and still at rest in falling, song

Rising. The field is made by hand and eye,

By daily work, by hope outreaching wrong,

And yet the Sabbath, parted, still must stay

In the dark musings of the soil no hand

May light, the great Life, broken, make its way

Along the stemmy footholds of the ant.

Bewildered in our timely dwelling place,

Where we arrive by work, we stay by grace.   

North Point Press, 1987

Monday, March 23

Scripture for the Day:    

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.  Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.  – John 4:43-54

Reflection – Kim Henderson  

I wonder what Jesus would have to do in these troubled times to convince us that he is the son of God.    After all, we have countless who perform miracles every day.  Many of us have witnessed miraculous health recoveries at the hands of skilled medical professionals.  On January 26^th, we had the miracle births of the octuplets and just 10 days earlier, we had the Miracle on the Hudson.  Obama is hard at work on rescuing our economy; that would certainly be a miracle.  We even had the illusionist, Chris Angel, walk on water, another apparent miracle.  What would convince us that Jesus was really Jesus in his second coming? 

He would definitely have his work cut out for him to make us believers.  As he said to the royal official the first time around, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”  I’m afraid that this would undeniably be the case in today’s world.   We are numbed and jaded by all that we have seen and experienced.   Maybe the miracle is for us to find Christ and not the other way around.  In the little things; the day to day wonders that we all take for granted; a soaring hawk, the quiet sparkle of freshly fallen snow, the kindness of a stranger.  Perhaps Christ is already among us and all we have to do is take notice; stand witness to his grace.

Saturday, March 21

Scripture for the Day:

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ – Luke 18:9-14

Reflection – Joan Warga 

This gospel did not make me feel good about myself.  I saw myself in it – comparing myself to others.  “Is she heavier than me?”  “Am I as bad looking as she is?”  It brought out how little humility I have.  I don’t mean to personalize this reading, but it did make me feel ashamed because I really saw myself in it.

There is a passage somewhere where we are told by God to never compare ourselves to anyone else – “there will always be greater and lesser than you.”  I know He loves us all equally, but sometimes it does seem as if He gives more to the “Chosen Few.” They have lots of money, live in perfect homes, with perfectly manicured lawns in picture-perfect neighborhoods and towns. They never have to work out; they can eat what they want, they “forget” to eat (can you believe that??? - I wish God would give me a bad memory in that department. )

This gospel also tells how presumptuous the Pharisee is in comparison with the tax collector. 

He believes that he is the better man because he tithes, prays and fasts – but he doesn’t like God’s creatures, i.e., his fellow man.

This is Jesus’ recurring message – the last shall be first and the first shall be last.  He came to earth to be a slave, a servant, not to act like the King that He is.  Those who serve Him, serve His people.

To ponder and pray: Think of a person you really have trouble with. Now, hold him or her in your mind’s eye and ask God to shower that person with blessing. Lots of blessing. Stay with it for a good 3 minutes – like cooking an egg. Now… do you see anything different about them?

Friday, March 20

Scripture for the Day:

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbor as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question. – Mark 12:28-34

Love (III)

 

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back

            Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

            From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

            If I lacked any thing.

 

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

            Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

            I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

            Who made the eyes but I?

 

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

            Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

            My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:                    

            So I did sit and eat.      

George Herbert            (1593-1633)