Christian Reflection and Prayer

Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9;
Matthew 26:14-25

Scripture:

"I looked for sympathy, but there
was none; for comforters, and I
found none." (Psalms 69:21)

Reflection:

Many great spiritual writers have
written about "the dark night of the
soul." This is a time when we experience
a sense of complete abandonment and
aloneness. We are slowly being surrounded
by the darkness with no one there to help us
or even walk with us. One religious sister
told me of her experience with the dark night.
She was in chapel praying and was overcome
with a sense of God's complete absence.
There was nothing there to pray to. She was
so scared she had to run from the chapel!

Of all the days in Jesus' life, today is one of the
darkest. The readings show us a Jesus Who is
abandoned and betrayed. He is facing His most
difficult moment, His death, and the people He
most relied on are deserting Him. Isaiah
prophesies that the Messiah will face His pain
and tortures alone. The responsorial psalm echoes
his soft cry for help: "Lord in Your great love,
answer Me!"

We have all faced dark nights of the soul when
everything seems lost and we are forsaken. In
this darkness, we stand with Jesus and with Isaiah.
We rely on our belief that, as it did in the first
moments of creation, the voice of God will create
a dawn in the darkness.

Prayer:

Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week

Father, in your plan of salvation your Son
Jesus Christ accepted the cross and freed us from
the power of the enemy. May we come to share
the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6;
John 13:21-33; 36-38

Scripture:

"I tell you solemnly; one of
you will betray me!" (John 13:21)

Reflection:

Throughout Jesus' ministry He always
spoke of love without limits, forgiveness
instead of revenge, and service over
domination. In our gospel, Jesus
struggles with His own commitment to
live those words that He has spoken so
often and so fervently. We see that Jesus
is "deeply troubled," His depression arising
from the betrayal of Judas and the lying of
Peter. Now Jesus must forgive the betrayal
and deceit that has torn and ripped apart
the fabric of love between Him and His
friends. Jesus realizes that He must stand
alone to face his sufferings and death. It
will not be His disciples or His friends that
see Him through, but only His trust in God.
Jesus believes God will not fail Him.

The words of Isaiah give Jesus hope that
there is an anchor in this sea of deceit:
"The Lord called me from birth, from my
mother's womb he gave me my name.
God is now my strength." (Isaiah 49:1, 5).

We also are not free from the disciples' flaws.
How often have we been like Judas, rejecting
the call to love and entering the darkness,
or like Peter, lying to protect our own skins?
We ask forgiveness and renew our fidelity to
the Lord Who walks alone.

Prayer:

Father, may we receive your forgiveness and
mercy as we celebrate the passion and death
of the Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7;
John 12:1-11

Scripture:

"Then she dried his feet with her
hair, and the house was filled with
the ointment's fragrance." (John 12:3)

Reflection:

We usually take great pains to prepare
for big occasions. The greater the occasion,
the more personal preparation time we
need. Brides take all day to prepare for
their weddings; a teenager spends the
afternoon dressing for the prom; the coroner
spends a day dressing and perfuming a body
for viewing. During Holy Week, we watch
Jesus face the greatest events in His
ministry--His Passion, death, and resurrection.
In our gospel today, Jesus allows Mary to
begin His preparation. The costly perfume
she uses to anoint Jesus symbolizes her
love and the love of His friends who will stay
with Jesus through the tumultuous week
ahead. For Judas, who has no love or
intention to stay with Jesus, the perfume
becomes a sign of conflict.

As this Holy Week begins, who will we be?
Will we be Mary, who has a passionate love
for Jesus and respects His mysterious personality?
Can we, like Mary, take the expensive perfume
of our lives and lay it at the feet of Jesus? Can we
choose to love Jesus with all of our being (using
even our very hair to dry His feet)? This is the love
Jesus will display to us through this week!

Or will we be Judas? Will we be concerned about
all the exterior things? Will we worry about how
our money is used and what others will say?
Will we avoid the journeys through suffering and
death, eventually living more in the dark than in
the day?

Renew this day your passionate love for the Lord.
Choose to stay with the Lord and with yourself
through the sufferings of the week.

Prayer:

All-powerful God, by the suffering and death
of your Son, strengthen and protect us in our
weakness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus
Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.