Happy Easter

The Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday roles around every year. It’s the day where we know walking into mass that it will be extraordinarily long and that the gospel is nothing new.We get those palms which we know will eventually be burned for the following year for Ash Wednesday and we end up playing with them throughout the day pulling them apart.However, after re-reading the gospel, alone, not in a huge congregation, my whole thought process on the story of Palm Sunday truly changed.In today’s gospel we read the same story with the same message regarding about how Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate and condemned to death. However, when we read the story at the procession of the palms, when Jesus rode into town on a donkey, people hailing him as their King, we have a different image of our Lord.The reason that this story struck me so much this time was not that Jesus was hailed as King…. that’s obvious. I am intrigued about the person who gave his donkey for Jesus to ride into town (and who) recognized (Jesus) as that King.It may seem like no big deal at all; in fact it seems to be that part of the story that no one notices, no one probably even wrote it down or even remembers where the donkey came from. But the donkey was actually an essential element in the story.
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her.Untie them and bring them here to me.And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’Then he will send them at once.”
So the thought is this…. Who was that guy who gave his donkey to the Master? Nobody knows his name or anything about him, yet he played an integral part in moving the story of Jesus’ love along its path. I saw this and realized that that particular man made a difference in this world.He helped to change the world. I really want to be like the man who gave his donkey…. Nobody knows him but without his gift to the Master, the story of Jesus would not have been fulfilled.It’s hard, sometimes, to give freely and without acknowledgement. It’s even harder to say yes to what is needed of others, especially when it is God who is asking us to give.So really, at the end of this Lent, the beginning of this Holy Week, what is my‘donkey’? What is it that I still have that I’ve been holding back in my life that I will not surrender to Christ?Is there something that I still need to let go of to grow closer to Jesus? And if I can come to that realization of what my ‘donkeys’ are in my life, am I willing to give it to others freely, generously, and maybe even, anonymously?

Sunday for Sharing:

Third Sunday of Lent

The Samaritan woman went out to get some water. She was not looking for Christ. He was there and saw something in her that he sees in us. The deepest need of everyone is something that will last. Written into our very nature is the need of everlasting life. Many do not know what they are looking for. Spirituality and piety meet as the practices that speak to the need of Christ in all of us. The right questions need to be asked if our spirituality and our piety are going to grow into a deep and abiding relationship to Christ. He would be our companion in our journey and so much more if we know what we are looking for and look for what he would give us.

The Samaritan woman went from being asked a question to asking her own question. Study is a looking at what our hearts are crying out for. We need to rediscover Christ’s life within us. Water has been changed forever in Christ’s walking into the Jordan to be baptized by John. He who was sinless gave to the waters of the Jordan a new meaning. The heart that was pierced on the Cross, gave his presence to the water that gushed forth to become the Sacrament of Baptism. We are born again into the life of Christ. We become children of God by Christ being our brother. Christ becomes our real life. We do not lose anything by following Christ. Rather we become true to ourselves by allowing our spiritual lives to be an extension of the Spiritual life of Christ. When Christ is transparent in whom we are and in what we do, we have discovered our true selves. We are who we are meant to be.

Action

It is a philosophical principle that action flows out of who we are. “Agere sequitur esse,” is a truism of life. Whatever we do in life brings fulfillment when it is true to who we are. An apostolic plan grows out of our prayer. Spiritual reading offers us challenges of life that are met in how we are sharing Christ with each other. Our gospel of the Samaritan woman is a challenge to reach out to someone today with the call of eternal life. We have as many group reunions in our daily life as we are trying to share Christ with the person we are with. We fulfill our apostolic plan when it means that Christ is part of each encounter of the day. A good life speaks Christ. A Christ life is seen in the willingness of say, “Christ” out loud. The Eternal Word spoken by the Father in the Word Made flesh needs to be echoed by our words to each other.

source: Your daily tripod