Throughout the Lenten season, we have posted reflections for holy days and Sundays from this year’s Lenten reflection booklet, A Fast That Matters, written by Frida Berrigan, and excerpts from past booklets, like the one posted below, written by Mary Carter Waren in “Living in the mystery of God: Reflections for Lent 2006.” Click here to see all reflections as they are posted as well as links to other Lenten resources on our Lent 2024 webpage.
reflection for Palm Sunday, MARch 24, 2024
by Mary Carter Waren
Mark 11:1-10 or John 12:12-16 | Isaiah 50:4-7 | Philippians 2:6-11 | Mark 14:1-15:47 or 15:1-39
God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:7
So that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God: Jesus Christi reigns supreme!
Philippians 2:10-11
Jesus advanced a little and fell to the ground, praying that if it were possible this hour might pass him by. He kept saying, “Abba, you have the power to do all things. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you would have it, not as I.”
Mark 14:35-36
When my oldest child was about four, he came home from school and told me he learned something amazing: on Sunday Jesus rode a donkey and people waved palms, on Thursday he ate the last dinner with his friends, on Friday the bad guys got him and killed him on a cross, and on Sunday God fooled the bad guys and came back to life! Timothy had such passion for this story, a story where good triumphed over evil even when it looked like evil had won.
This week is all about passion, about caring so much for something or someone you will do anything for it or them. We often limit the word passion to mean exclusively sexual passion (there is a perfume named Passion and a soap opera named Passions), but we are reminded today what else it means. It means to care with everything you have for another. The joys of passion are powerful, the depths of passion endless. It is intense, it is emotional, it will involve sacrifice, it will include suffering. It will hurt to love this much, to care this much, to believe this much. You will not be able to control everything, including others’ actions or reactions. Like the disciples in the garden, those whom you might ordinarily count on will let you down, not understanding what is at stake, the pain too much to accompany. It will mean “setting your face like flint” knowing that God is our help. Passion will mean proclaiming, with exclamation (in heaven, on earth, under the earth), “Jesus Christ reigns supreme!” It will mean moments of begging to be relieved, “take this cup from me.” We remember this holy week that our God is a passionate God, a God who loves us so much that Jesus was sent to show us the ways of passion and compassion. At four, Timothy knew intuitively the passion of our God as evidenced in what we recall this week and was moved by it, moved to tell others. May we remember, with passion, this passion.
Reflection:
Like those in the garden, we sometimes fall asleep on the passion and sufferings of others. What can I do this week to accompany those who suffer, especially those in my life whom I might have overlooked or found difficult?
Dr. Mary Carter Waren is a pastoral theologian whose research and work for the past 30 years has been in practical theology. For her, this means the “translation” of theological concepts into language that is accessible to all of God’s people. This is lived out in her work on the Catholic identity and mission of Catholic institutions, in secondary schools, higher education, parishes, and in healthcare. She is a long-time member of Pax Christi USA and Pax Christi Florida, and previously served as chair of the Pax Christi USA National Council. She wrote the reflection above for the 2006 Lenten booklet.