There is more than abundance of Scripture to read during this season.We begin Holy Week on 28th March with Palm Sunday. The Liturgy of the Palms which is a prelude to the main liturgy of the day ( Luke 19:28-40;Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29) and read as part of a procession before the service begins. The Liturgy of the Passion involves the reading of the Passion Story according to Luke (Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49) Just take it slowly and read what you can /what you feel moved to but try to allow yourself to be drawn into the personal mystery of what God is doing for the world and in your lifeAnother Palm Sunday Homily is here
Is God so demanding that he will not stop until we are totally destroyed.
Sometimes it feels like that.
As Sunday begins with a "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem
we can spend time wondering what the nature of this event was
It is good to be accurate, but not good to nit-pick.
The truth is that the Gospels offer us variety in the accounts and insights of the last few days.
The Palm Sunday story is one full of hope and expectation
The Good Friday is one of confusion and desolation
The Easter story is one of excitement, uncertainty and expectation.
It is a journey to be travelled
we do not stand still
we are engaged powerfully
because this journey of hopeful expectation, of desolation and confusion
is exactly what our lives our like.
Whether it be our excitement at the birth of a child,
or our desolation when a child is miscarried.
Or a job that is exactly what we hoped for
but is cut short by a cancer diagnosis, or a debilitating car accident.
Even if it is only the hope that we have when we are young
that fails to be realised
when we are old
This is a journey that we all make
We are invited, too, by the Easter experience
to realise that dashed hopes, desolation and confusion
are only a step along the way
They are not the climax or the conclusion.
These stories fill us with a sense of excitement, challenge and expectation
that we are entering uncharted waters.
scrutiny
as we look at our life
where is the sense of hopefulness.
What do we long for, what fulfillment do we seek?
This is Palm Sunday.
We don't need to anticipate Good Friday yet.
What do we believe God is trying to do in our life
what do we want God to do?
What sense of excitement, hope, fear
do we note as we sense what God might have in store for us?
What encourages us forward,
what holds us back.
Allow this week to be a time of challenge and exploration
as we permit God to show us more of what there is in store for us
and pray for grace to respond.
