6th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 6th Sunday/Passion Sunday of Lent are:

1. Matthew 21: 1-11
2. Isaiah 50: 4-7
3. Psalms 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
4. Romans 8: 8-11
5. John 11: 1-45

• Left out in the parking lot
• I always feel bad for the folks who are too infirm or too disinclined to join us for the Palm Sunday procession into church.  When we assemble out in the parking lot we find ourselves tossed in with people that we rarely see on a Sunday morning because we don't usually sit at "that end" of the worship space.  We all share in the distribution of the palms, the blessing with the holy water, the reading, the processional song, and there is a sense of community that is often absent.
• What do you do in your family, community, parish to celebrate and foster the development of the community?
• How did those practices get started?
• How do you keep them alive and lively?
• What else could we all do to bring us closer to each other?
• The power of language
• In the movie The Darkest Hour, prime minister Winston Churchill has given a rousing speech calling on Parliament, all of the government, all of the people of England to join in waging war on the impending tyranny from Germany.  One of the astonished members asks the other "what just happened?"  The reply "Churchill has called upon the English language and sent it to war."
• What gives you hope for a better future for you, your family, your faith community?
• What is that hope based on?  How was it communicated to you originally?
• How can we be more convincing in our communication of hope to one another?

• Fear of abandonment
• There are perhaps no more comforting words than "I'm here for you."  That companionship without any qualifications is perhaps the greatest gift that we can offer to someone else in need.  When we go through tough times, it often feels as though there is an invisible wall surrounding us.
• Think of the last time that you went through a tough time.  Who was there for you the most?
• What did they actually do for you during that time?
• How can we be more available to those around us in need, particularly when there are competing/conflicting demands on us?

• One step at a time
• I would like to define humility as "a profound and deep understanding of where one fits in the universe, one's purpose in the moment, one's relationship to all others and one's ultimate unity with all life, holiness, and love."
• If you take that as an operating definition of humility, do you think that Jesus was born with that, that Jesus had to be intentional about His humility, or both?
• Is there anything about humility that you find inviting?
• How can Jesus teach us about humility from His life when there is so much between us today and 1st century Palestine?
• If someone came to you today and asked you to teach them humility, where would you start?

• Via Dolorosa
• Jesus' leadership skills seem lacking in this episode of His life.  A gang of hired thugs shows up while He's praying after Passover, and his followers all desert Him.  In contrast to them, Catholic Tradition tells us of Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus while He was on his way to the Cross.
• Think of a time when someone close to you was going through something that they didn't deserve, that had no easy answer.  What did you do to help?
• Veronica risked the anger of the Roman cohort escorting Jesus.  They were doubtless a little jumpy, worried that these crazy Jews might riot seeing their "savior" going to His execution.
• Veronica knew that there was little that she could do to ease Jesus' suffering, but she had to do what she could.
• What little things are there that you can do to ease the suffering of someone around you?
• Who/what are the Roman soldiers in your life who are holding you back?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. How can I strengthen my community?
2. Who needs my presence?
3. Where is God calling me to share His kindness and mercy?
4. Where can I be more humble?
5. Where is God calling me to take risks in my life?

Flash Mob

Youtube videos abound of flash mob performances of anything imaginable.
First one musician starts a solo, a few passers by take note and stop to listen.
Seemingly random instruments drift in and join the tune, adding their voices.

Eventually a director arrives, deploys their baton, and the swelling chorus continues
Unabated, smooth as glass, each new addition joining in without a hitch.
The spectators by now have realized something is afoot, and start taking pictures.

The charm of the scene is the seeming randomness of it all,
As though that first musician started some sort of musical vortex
Drawing in one instrument and musician after another.

Watching that today, as someone hoping to survive COVID-19,
I find the sight of people standing close to one another almost strange.
Stranger still that they can cooperate so well, so beautifully together.

No matter what the future brings us, we are, we are called to, we always have been
Community.
Nothing can change that, nothing can rip our essential oneness from us.

For it is with, in, and through the God who made us who made us one,
That we find the essence, the meaning, the gritty messiness of life.
Both here, now, this moment, and in all time, all places, eternity.

Some say that disease is a product of sin, that we brought this on ourselves.
I would rather say that suffering is a doorway that we are invited through
To find our true selves, our foundation, our essence.

Let us all find the courage to join our voices into the swelling chorus
Believe not the conceit that any one of us, any family of us is in this alone.
Saints and martyrs bear witness to a deeper reality that is ours if we have the courage.

Shalom!