April 2022
Hello Prayer Bench friends,
We are close to Palm Sunday and then move into Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Here are some resources I plan to use. They nurture me and help me mark the days.
I also share information about the 2022 series of Holy Week reflections, called “And Yet.” Perhaps you might join me in this daily email series.
Palm Sunday
Here is a wonderful blog post written by Catherine Smith, a friend, at Hem of the Light. She offers a Palm Sunday hymn. I plan to live inside these words on Palm Sunday.
Ride on ride on O holy, longing Lord.
Below your feet our coats we lay.
Above your head the branches wave.
We glimpse, O Love, your hidden way.
You can read her blog post and other Palm Sunday resources on her website. A Hymn for Palm Sunday. Please contact Catherine for any use beyond personal reflection.
Maundy Thursday
It is my personal practice to read or listen to Jesus Farewell gospel on Maundy Thursday. Here is a video from the Prayer Bench for you. You are welcome to share it.
Good Friday
I have Padraig O’Tuama’s book of Daily Prayer and his collects for the Stations of the Cross are in the book. Here is a video I plan to watch on Good Friday. I watched a bit of it to know that I appreciate both his words and images.
Here is the prayer for Station 3- Jesus falls for the first time
God of the ground,
whose body was - like ours - from dust,
and who fell - like we fall - to the ground.
May we find you on the ground
when we fall.
Oh, our falling fallen brother, may we find you,
so that we may inhabit
our stories,
our selves,
Amen.
Holy Saturday
I always spend Holy Saturday in the company of Mary Magdalene. It is she who tethers Jesus in love as he “descends into hell.” Here is a blog post that tries to express what this descent means to me. Here is my reflection: Tethered in Love.
Easter Sunday
Here is a reflection from the Holy Week/Easter Sunday series last year. The poem is one I love and try to absorb each Easter morning.
Rise into Joy
“You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” - Psalm 16:11 NLT
Jesus is alive and out and about!
Our Soul Song today is one of praise for the beauty of Life we taste here in the earth realm. Even the early preachers, Peter and Paul, quote this Psalm in their Easter declarations. (See Acts 2:24-32)
Read Psalm 16 with an ear for the energies of deep delight.
Savour the verse: “In your presence there is fullness of joy.”
Turn it into a breath prayer. Or a dance.
Joy rises and never leaves.
Joy is here, no matter what is going on around us or inside us.
Joy rises alongside the harsh realities of life.
“Joy is an act of resistance,” says the poet Toi Derricotte.
We rise into Joy.
We rise with whatever is in our hands; whatever is in our hearts.
We rise with hearts ready to be awakened by Love.
We rise asking what we can do today to change our world with Love renewed:
Joy lives again in the beating heart of our humanity, “the true, eternal joy.”
Pray these beautiful words by an anonymous monk of the 13th century:
“Woman, why are you weeping?
Who are you looking for?
The one you seek is in your possession, and you do not know it?
You have the true, the eternal joy, and yet you weep?
It is within your inmost being, and you look for it without?
You stand outside, weeping at the tomb?
Your heart is my tomb.
I am not dead there, but I take my rest in your heart, living forever.
Your heart is my garden.
You were right to suppose that I was the gardener.
I am the new Adam. I till and care for my paradise.
Your tears, your love and your longing are all my work.
In your inmost being you possess me, although you do not know it,
and so you look for me without.
Outwardly, therefore, I will appear to you,
and make you return to yourself,
that in your inmost being you may find the one whom you seek outside.”
I hope this offers you some nourishment for the days coming. I also invite you to join me in the 2022 series of Holy Week reflections and prayers offered through the Prayer Bench shop. You can register as an individual or as a group if you wish to distribute to others in your group or community of faith.
(All who received the two Lent retreats, “The Pull of God,” will automatically receive the Holy Week daily emails.)
Spring is coming in the northern hemisphere — and autumn is approaching in the south. This means that Caroline from Kereru Publishing and myself are busy writing Autumn Rambles and Stroll for Your Soul. We write the two series together and each publish a series in our appropriate season.
Caroline is first out this year with Autumn Rambles, starting soon. Check out Autumn Rambles at Kereru Publishing.
If you sign up with Caroline now you’ll be rambling with her beginning April.
You’ll soon learn more about Stroll for Your Soul beginning May 14 at the Prayer Bench.
I hope you find something enriching in this edition of the Prayer Bench newsletter and know I always appreciate when you share.