Month: April 2019

Reading: Walk With Jesus, Chapter XV; Concluding Prayer (pages 91-98)

As we enter Holy Week, we are coming to the end of our Lenten Walk With Jesus inspired by the paintings of Sr. Helen David and guided by Henri Nouwen. Thanks to all of you who have walked along, whether you joined us for the entire journey or stopped by occasionally during Lent. During our time together we have reflected on the fourteen stations of Jesus’ passion, crucifixion, death, and burial–stories we will hear recounted throughout this most important week of the Christian year. This week we look ahead with wonder and awe to glorious culmination of the Gospel story, Jesus Rises from the Dead, that we celebrate on Easter Sunday and in the Easter season that follows.

During these weeks of Lent, we have met, suffered with, and been inspired by the poor and marginalized from around the world. By encountering them and learning their stories we have come to better understand our own struggles and pains. And as Henri and Sr. Helen David remind us, Jesus is always present to unite his suffering with the suffering of God’s children. Yet, the suffering is not the end of the story. As Henri writes this week, “Yes, there is sadness but gladness too. Yes, there is grief, but joy as well. Yes, there is fear, but also love. Yes, there is hard work but celebration follows. And, yes, there is death, but also resurrection.” (p. 93)

We are people of the resurrection. In Henri’s words, “All is different and all is the same to those who say ‘Yes’ to the news that is whispered through the ages from one end of the world to the other. . . All is the same, and all is made new . . . And so the smile of God and the smile of God’s people reach reach each other and become one in the undying light that shines in the darkness.” (p 95)

You are encouraged to look back and reflect on Henri’s and Sr. Helen David’s remarkable presentation of the Stations of the Cross. Was their uncommon approach helpful in your preparation for Easter? Did the contemporary stories of the poor and suffering help you to see Jesus as Emmanuel, God-with-us, active in our world today? Have you encountered people with challenges similar to those portrayed in Sr. Helen David’s paintings in your life? How did you respond? Finally, and most important, how have you been touched spiritually during our Lenten journey and how will your life be different or what changes will you make as a result? Please share your thoughts to the degree you are comfortable doing so.

One final time, thanks to all of you for your participation, whether you actively posted or journeyed in silence. It has been a privilege and a pleasure for me to be with you this Lent. May you and yours have a blessed and joyous Easter season.

May the Lord give you peace.

Ray

P. S. This Advent we are planning to discuss Following Jesus–Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety that will be published on September 17th. This brand-new, never before published work of inspiration, is based on a series of lectures Henri gave in the basement of a church while teaching at Harvard. Edited by Gabrielle Earnshaw, the founding archivist of Henri’s papers, this book offers a compelling case for why Christianity is still relevant, beautiful, intelligent, and necessary in the modern world. More information will be available later this year.

Reading: Walk With Jesus, Chapter XII, XIII, XIV (pages 73-90)

Thanks to each of you for another week of insightful, compassionate, and supportive discussion.  It is clear that Sr. Helen David’s paintings and Henri’s meditations have struck a chord that is resonating beautifully within our small Spirit-filled community.

We are nearing the end of our Lenten journey together. This week we confront Jesus’ death on the cross (XII) and its immediate aftermath as his body is taken from the cross (XIII) and is laid in the tomb (XIV). From a worldly perspective, this looks like the end of the story of Jesus of Nazareth.  But we know better. As we focus on Jesus’ death on Good Friday and the solitude of the grave on Holy Saturday this week, we also await Jesus’ glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday (XV) that we will consider in our final week.

Sr. Helen David’s painting for the twelfth station is unlike any of the others because it is so impersonal. Rather than drawing our attention to an individual or group, she shows us the “powers” or the “forces” of death that run rampant in our modern world. In his meditation, Henri reminds us that those same powers of death crushed Jesus too and he died. However, by his death (and the resurrection that follows), he removed death’s sting and gave us the power to participate in eternal life where death can no longer reach.  Henri writes, “The great challenge of the Christian life is to say ‘Yes’ to life even in the smallest and, seemingly, unimportant details. Every moment there is a choice to be made: the choice for or against life.” As you reflect on this station, you might consider how you make those choices in your life.

In the thirteenth station we are asked to consider the intimate union between love and sorrow, especially when faced with senseless and horrific death at the hands of evil forces in the world.  Mary the mother of Jesus experienced this at the foot of the cross as did those in El Salvador mourning at the graves of the four murdered churchwomen. Looking at both Mary and the churchwomen Henri writes, “There is never love without sorrow, commitment without pain, never involvement without loss, never giving without suffering, never a ‘Yes’ to life without many deaths to die.”  Using Sr. Helen David’s painting as inspiration, reflect on situations in your life where you have met suffering and brokenness  with the love of Jesus; what was the outcome?

Finally, Sr. Helen David and Henri bring us to the silence and solitude of the grave.  Although it appears to be the end, it is not. As Henri writes about the young widow, “She understands something that the powers of death cannot understand. There are a trust and confidence in her that are vastly more powerful than the weapons that killed her husband.” The young widow knows in her heart that Holy Saturday is followed by Easter Sunday. So do we. Looking back on your life, are there times you have rested with Jesus in silence and solitude in the face of difficult circumstances?

As always, you are invited to share what is on your heart to the extent you are comfortable. We look forward to an other week of rewarding reflections. Thanks to all of you that have joined us this Lent, those who are actively commenting and those reading and reflecting in silence.  You are all welcome here.

May you have a blessed week.
Ray