Some thoughts on Holy Week from the archives.
One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.
These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.
Today’s theme is trust.
“The Son of man alone yet trusting goes.
His life into his Father’s hands commends.”
Alone, betrayed and deserted by those who love him Jesus hands himself over to the Father in complete trust. In stressful times I tend towards micromanagement, wanting to control and fix everything myself. So I find Jesus’ capacity to abandon himself completely to God’s will breath taking and challenging. It reminds me that I am also called to surrender and to put myself and my concerns into God’s hands rather than trying to fix everything myself.
Where are you called to surrender your life to God this Holy Week?
Category: Divine Office
Some thoughts from the archives on the new hope of Holy Week:
One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.
These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.
The second theme of I find it helpful to reflect on is new hope:
“There Love cries out despairing at his end
New hope to us, the loveless to extend.”
Holy Week can feel so full of fear, despair and betrayal that it can be hard to keep sight of hope. Even as Jesus cries out in despair from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, his love reaches across the despair with a new hope.
Where is Christ’s love calling out to you today?
Some thoughts for Holy Week from the archives…
“And stretching out his arms on Calvary,
Draw all the ages to him on the Tree.”
One of the things that holds the themes of Holy Week together for me is our Lauds hymn. Each day it its own verse that reflects a particular aspect of the Salvation narrative that we’re celebrating through this great and challenging week.
These are combined with a refrain that’s repeated each day, linking the themes and drawing them together across the days.
Today’s theme is the tree of life. It links the tree of life in the garden of Eden with the cross. It reminds me that death and life are linked, that by drawing us to himself on the cross Jesus draws us into the light of new life.
Where do you feel Christ drawing you to himself this Holy Week?
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.
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”?