Palm Sunday . . . we enter Passion Week . . .

 

"The Stage is Set" . . .

The Mystery of Darkness” by Henry Nouwen

O God, this holy season of Lent is passing quickly. I entered into it with fear, but also with great expectations. I hoped for a great breakthrough, a powerful conversion, a real change of heart; I wanted Easter to be a day so full of light that not even a trace of darkness would be left in my soul. But I know that you do not come to your people with thunder and lightning. Even St. Paul and St. Francis journeyed through much darkness before they came to see your light. Let me be thankful for your gentle way. I know you are at work. I know you will not leave me alone. I know you are quickening me for Easter – but in a way fitting my own history and my own temperament.

I pray that these last weeks, in which you invite me to enter more fully into the mystery of your passion, will bring me a greater desire to follow you on the way that you create for me and to accept the cross that you give me. Let me die to the desire to choose my own way and to select my own cross. You do not want to make me a hero but a servant who loves you.

Be with me today, tomorrow, and in all the days to come, and let me experience your gentle presence. Amen.

Entry ( Matthew 21:1-11) 
The stage is set
and everything washed clean
in a rain of sunshine.
Hands reach out
to calm a skittish colt,
bewildered by its burden.
The Son of David
rides a rainbowed road
that rocks with hosannas
(Irene Zimmerman)