Life in the Garden

entering Holy Week

A lot happens in gardens this week, this Holy Week. A lot of emotions. From passionate, excited onlookers yanking palm branches on to the road, to gardens that still exist in some form.

Gardens where Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake with him,

where he cried out to God,

where he wept and groaned,

where he was arrested

buried,

and resurrected.

“Easter-Christ Appears to Mary” by Jesus Mafa, from Art in the Christian Tradition a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

I invite you to follow Jesus through the gardens, to stay close to him, to watch his face, his actions, and enter the stories. This Jesus who cries out on the cross, ‘forgive them for they know not what they are doing’, as we considered last week.

Read the below passages slowly throughout the week, using lectio divina or your Ignatian imagination.

I’ll be sending out more newsletters this week with prayer practices to guide your reflection, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter. Reflections will continue our journey of recovery through examining the need to:

allow ourselves to receive

allow ourselves to feel

allow ourselves to mourn and be heard

allow ourselves to hear our name

and allow ourselves to be filled with resurrected, empowering Christ-breath

I invite you also to pay attention to the emotions of this week, to allow yourself to feel the emotions of Jesus, his mother, and friends, and to notice your emotions with grace and compassion.

As we begin, I invite you to consider: what garden of Holy Week do you resonate with right now?