The Desert
This year for Lent I saw online some Lenten meditations entitled "Into The Desert" which grabbed my attention. In reflecting on the words at the website I felt it would be a good fit for me this year. The writer was Australian. I liked the theme of God's creation, I liked that it brought the idea of the universal church into focus, and I liked that there was emphasis on Pope Francis's wisdom. I decorated a little shelf with some little succulents, books, and pictures of the desert. It doesn't look like I got a picture though...sad face. I was determined to keep Lent simple and focus on one meditation and a couple of simple practices. I was inspired by the words of the Like Mother Like Daughter blog to simply live Lent. The most powerful thing I did this Lent was to try and enter into silence. Until lunch I did not play the radio, podcast or cd's. Basically I tried to honor silence for the first part of my day. It. Was. So. Hard. It almost sounds silly but I honestly went through a very strange mood those first couple of weeks. Depression is to strong but I just felt very sad. My other practice I did not do so well on. I wanted to write a letter a day and pray for that person and share my faith in whatever way I was inspired. I did a few in the beginning but it got away from me. Maybe this needs to be my Easter season practice.
The Cross
When I think of the cross I think of pain and suffering. I am all to aware of the suffering going on in our world. Dale and Debbie are battling cancer. My friend Mary died unexpectedly on Holy Saturday. Christians are being tortured and murdered for their faith. Precious little babies are killed each day at the hands of doctors whose mission it is to heal. Children and teen's daily lives are full of words and images that scream disrespect of the body, authority, and God, Part of me feels like I should backspace and wipe out all these ugly words but then I would be ignoring it and pretending all this doesn't exist. Rather than ignore it I chose to see that God will bring good out of it. Pain...suffering...death are not the end.
He is risen!
Alleluia!
The Joy of the Resurrection!
In the glory of the resurrection all the pain and suffering is seen to have meaning. I may not understand that now but one day I will. That is my hope.
Jesus I trust in you!
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