Today’s journal prompt comes from the Liturgical Press publication, Daily Reflections for Lent: Not by Bread Alone 2018 by Michelle Francl-Donnay:
Her meditation for Saturday, March 24:
“As the long season of Lent turns toward Holy Week and Easter, stop with G-d to take stock of where you have been. Where has your heart been opened? What Scriptures have spoken to you most clearly? What are you still clinging to that you wish to leave behind?”
In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
I will sing of your salvation.
Psalm 71:1-2
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this responsorial psalm before. It was one of the first that I randomly read when I began to visit the church. It holds a special place in my heart, and was one of the things that saved me from crisis.
Meditate on these two verses, and while you are with G-d, see how they apply to your life, and your relationship with Him.
”Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14
Read these words, and sit quietly with them.
What is the first thing you think of?
What do they mean to you?
What are you waiting for the Lord for?
Think of all of this, but especially the verse in the context of this week. Holy Week is a special time and it leads to all things, good and bad, and we must encounter and endure them all in order to get to the greatest day – Easter and the Resurrection.
”The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them…”
Isaiah 50:4
How often have we ignored our well-trained tongue and have just spoken whatever’s on our mind? How many have we offended in so short a time? How many times would it have been better to simply not say anything at all?
I am forever giving my kids advice to think first, then speak, but how often am I in need of such advice? Or admonishment?
I’m reminded of a quote from The Walking Dead television series where Rick tells his son, who’s about ten, maybe slightly younger, “Don’t talk. Think.” I know many people, myself included who needs to remember this.
Another quote comes to mind from Aaron Burr in Hamilton: An American Musical when he tells Alexander Hamilton to “talk less, smile more.”
As we follow Jesus, stepping on and side-stepping palms being tossed as his guide, find some solitude and think about his journey and our own journey throughout this week beginning today as he, and we, enter Jerusalem and meet G-d’s will.
Bless my continued Lent;
I give thanks for my community.
Bless my travel;
I give thanks for my safety and well being.
Bless my family as I leave
and keep them safe.
Bless my baby off to work.
Bless my others off to play.
I give thanks for their safety and well being.
Bless my communion,
fraternity, my peace, my muse;
I give thanks for camaraderie.
Bless my meditation;
I give thanks for the time to discern.
Bless my sacred space;
I give thanks for that space.
Bless my writing and
bless my co-retreatants.
I give thanks for each and
pray for both the solitude and
the communion.
Thank you, G-d for the opportunity.
I am eternally in your debt.
Amen.
In anticipation of next week, today’s virtual pilgrimage is the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. This is the actual way that Jesus carried his cross to Calvary; the Stations of the Cross.
https://youtu.be/qc_KzfpGTwU
Palms, stones from Dolwyddelan, St. Anne’s chaplet. (c)2018
Something to contemplate before this weekend’s Palm Sunday Masses.
Collect
Enlighten, O God of compassion, the hearts of your children, sanctified by penance, and in your kindness grant those you stir to a sense of devotion a gracious hearing when they cry out to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Use this liturgical prayer as a journal prompt.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord! Ps 27 (26):14
Psalm 102 (or Psalm 17) R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Meditate on these two verses. What are they saying to you? The second one was something I found comfort in at the beginning of my journey towards Christ. It still feels melancholy to me. Is it that way to you or does it feel differently?
Brothers and sisters: It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
Romans 4:13
The righteousness that comes through faith. Where do you personally find that righteousness? Is it the righteousness that draws you closer to G-d, to avoid sin, to make your penitential rites? Or is it drawn through the faith that you have in the Word? In G-d?
I have heard Abraham’s name throughout my entire life. It is the very first Bible story that we hear in religious school, followed quickly by Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel. Those seven forefathers and mothers are called upon almost as often, even more than the geneology of Jesus at Easter time. It is as though they are literally part of our families, just above our great-grandparents.
Where does G-d’s covenant with Abraham fit in with your faith?
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 