A Week of Processions . . .

++This is the brief reflection that I presented at the Palm Sunday Liturgy this weekend for our retired sisters...

We all are familiar with parades, marches, protests, demonstrations,
rituals, and rallies. However, through the Scriptures in this week
called Holy, we are invited to observe, ponder, and participate in
processions.  Today we have two Gospels; one recounting Jesus’
procession into Jerusalem, and the other with the profound  story of
his passion and death as he processed to Golgotha.

At the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, we processed to receive
ashes, visibly marking our willingness to enter once again into a
conversion of heart, and to hear the Good News deeper within and
around us. This week, on Holy Thursday, we will experience the procession
for foot washing and also the procession moving the Blessed Sacrament
to the Altar of Repose. 

On Good Friday, we process with the cross and remember Jesus’
procession to the hill outside the city of Jerusalem.  At the Easter
Vigil, we will process with the new Easter Fire from the Easter
Candle, and place it in our midst while we sing our Alleluias.

Let us also recall that every liturgy is filled with processions . . .
namely, the Entrance procession, the Gospel procession, Offertory
procession, our reception of Eucharist is a procession, and our own
entrance and leave-taking is also done in procession.  We frequently
experience a variety of processions throughout our lives . . .
and what do they signify?

Processions are not just a way to get people from here to there in an
orderly manner. They are ritual expressions of who we are and what
we are about. We are people of faith on a journey of life....
(And this is not a dress rehearsal!)

This week, let us ponder the processions in our own lives . . .
our Baptism and reception of the Sacraments, graduation, profession,
Jubilee processions, and consider our own funeral procession.

Then you may also want to reflect on the many individual processions
you make daily in this setting . . . from your room  to the chapel,
or to the dining room, to the beauty salon, or to the clinic or
hospital, or over to St. Francis home, and to the many other places you
journey throughout your day.

So therefore, let us ask the Spirit for the graces of insight, guidance, wisdom, forgiveness, and hope as we pray this week  . . .
• for an open mind to understand the depths of our journey of faith,
• for an open heart to embrace the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of our personal and collective faith journey,
• And for an open spirit to welcome, receive, and listen to the flow of life as we are invited to speak our “yes” to what is forever unfolding for us as we each process on our journey of faith.