Category: Palm Sunday

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Divine Office Gospel Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Palm Sunday Scripture

Sing Hosanna.

Image © Turvey Abbey

The 40th word in my Lent lexicon is:

HOSANNA.

Palm Sunday resounds with hosannas as Jesus entered Jerusalem surrounded by joyful and hopeful followers. The joy reflects the ancient hope that has sustained the people through generations of occupation and suffering:

“Blessed is he who comes to free us, David’s son our Lord and King! Sing hosanna, sing hosanna, all your love and worship bring.”

Yet we know how quickly those hosannas turn to the jeers that leads to crucifixion and death. The people have come out full of hope and expectation. When their need isn’t instantly met in the way they expect it soon turns to anger and frustration.

This movement is mirrored in our liturgy where we move almost immediately from celebrating this triumphal entry to listening to the reading of the Passion. All this can make it tempting to dismiss those Palm Sunday hosannas as superficial, even false.

This misses an important point. The hosannas of Palm Sunday remind us that we don’t have to wait until life is perfect to praise God. Even when life is fragile, uncertain, even when we are angry and frustrated and our needs are not being met we can sing hosanna.

Beginning holy week singing hosannas helps us to focus. It reminds us that although in this week we face the worst we can do and the worst we can be that is not the end of the story. We can carry those Palm Sunday hosannas in our hearts as we move through the darkness of Holy Week and Good Friday until we come out into the new light of resurrection.

What hosanna are you being invited to carry through this Holy Week?

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Benedictine Spirituality Christ Cross Divine Office Holy Week Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Palm Sunday Saints Uncategorized

Welcoming the uncontainable God.

After I wrote my post for Palm Sunday I went to the Vigil and heard again the beautiful second reading from St Andrew of Crete. It’s too good not to share again. Here’s a reflection on the reading from our archives.

Image by Andrew Martin from pixabay.com

Every year at on the Eve of Palm Sunday we listen to a beautiful reading from the writings of St Andrew of Crete. It sums up Palm Sunday for me, opening the way to Holy Week and setting the tone for it. I return again and again to these words:

“Let us imitate those who have gone out to meet him, not scattering olive branches or garments or palms in his path, but spreading ourselves before him as best we can, with humility of soul and upright purpose. So may we welcome the Word as he comes, so may God, who cannot be contained within any bounds, be contained within us.”

We are living in uncertain and challenging times. In the midst of much hardship we’re discovering much about the God cannot be contained and about the myriad of ways that God can transform our lives. We’ve also learned much about the boundaries and limitations we are tempted to try to erect around God.

We’re moving into Holy Week aware of the sufferings and uncertainties in our fragile and broken lives and world, knowing that it’s beyond our power to fix it. With all that in our hearts we can move into Holy Week aware of our need for the transforming presence of “God who cannot be contained within any bounds” nurturing us in the depths of our hearts.

As we move into Holy Week where are you discovering the God “who cannot be contained within any bounds”?

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Christ Cross Gospel Lectio Divina Lent Liturgy Palm Sunday Scripture Uncategorized

With a disciples’ ear

Image ©Turvey Abbey

This Palm Sunday I’m reflecting on the first reading from the prophet Isaiah. I’m especially struck by these words:

“Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.”

The liturgy for Palm Sunday can be a bit of a challenge. There’s so much going on that it can leave me feeling a bit distracted. So my hope is that the attentive listening Isaiah calls me to will help me find where I need to focus in order to best hear the words the Lord has for me this year.

The reading of the passion compels us to face some challenging truths. The Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy Jill Levine points out that the passion is a powerful story. If we let it, it can speak to & change our hearts, listening to it becomes a risky & uncomfortable business.

As we watch the disciples struggle through it with a mixture of failure and courage, hope and despair our own consciences are pricked. It calls us to reflect on where we have misunderstood, betrayed, or fallen asleep when we should have been awake to the suffering of those around us.

As we see Jesus condemned and moving towards crucifixion it’s hard to avoid some hard questions about the value we place on life, our own lives and the lives of others, especially the lives of those who are pushed to the margins.

As we move into Palm Sunday where is Christ calling you to wake up and listen?