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Mondays of Lent - April 6 - Holy Week

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Martha’s Towel


Mary, my sister, let me have that towel that Jesus used. We need to bring it home to be washed. Imagine Jesus using it to wash their feet! He never ceases to amaze me.

Thank goodness we’d washed their feet when they first arrived as any good host would do or can you image what it would look like now? Once I get it clean, I mean to keep it as a reminder.

What an amazing night! The food was especially good. We really outdid ourselves, I’d say. We could never have done it without the help of the other women. The figs that Joanna brought were marvelous!

But it wasn’t just the food. No, this night was amazing in so many ways. This towel will always remind me of what he did tonight. I should scold him like Peter for kneeling down at our feet, but how could I? Perhaps I understand, more than Peter does, what Jesus was saying. The greatest love is serving others. (laughs softly) I sure can’t scold him for that.

But it was even more than his washing our feet. When he blessed and broke the bread, I don’t know, it was more than feeding us. He said it was his very self—his body. And I believe it. (pause) Yes, Mary, we will have so much to think about and talk about when we get home.  

I’m glad they all went out to Gethsemane. I can see that you’re worried about it but I think it will do them good. Besides, it gives us this chance to clean things up. Let’s get these baskets put away. It’s too dark to make our way back to Bethany this late. I’m sure Lazarus has given up on us and gone to bed by now anyway.

Tomorrow? Oh, I don’t know. It would be nice if we just made a simple meal. It will be the night of the Sabbath and I expect they’ll all be there early, before it starts to get dark. At least I hope so. If Jesus doesn’t get there before sundown, I’ll be up all night with worry I know.

Come here, little sister. Let’s share this blanket. You can keep me warm like you used to do when we were little girls. I feel a kind of chill. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Witnesses on the Way

an Online Easter Retreat

This is the fifth year I have offered this online retreat for the Easter Season. If you have enjoyed these MONDAY OF LENT, I invite you to participate in WITNESSES TO RESURRECTION, the perfect at-home meditation for the Easter Season. As did our Mondays, this reflection arrives in your inbox on Monday mornings. Each of the seven weeks focuses on a different Resurrection appearance, providing a way to linger in the presence of the Risen Lord.

This Retreat provides a quiet and meaningful way to keep Easter alive for the weeks after. A link to the retreat is delivered to your email's inbox containing many features--beautiful artwork, background information, music, reflection questions, and a personalized video clip.

Because WITNESSES TO RESURRECTION contains significantly more material than our Monday newsletter and because others have already paid the $5 registration fee, there is that charge to you should you decide to join us on this retreat. I would love to keep up our Monday morning connection!
To register or learn more, please go to this page on my website: WITNESSES TO RESURRECTION

Provisions for the Journey: Here are some offerings to inspire and sustain

We cannot gather for the beautiful liturgies of Holy Week this year. If, however, we bring bfore God our desire to honor these holy days, God will show up! Many of us have accessed services broadcast from our own parishes or elsewhere. I highly recommend you do a little online surfing ahead of time to check out the possibilities. Then determine what you and your family will do for each of these holy days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday

The Jewish Feast of Passover begins this Wednesday, April 8th. Since this is the feast for which Jesus gathered with his apostles and which we celebrate as Holy Thursday, a fitting project might be to learn more about the meaning of Passover. Here are two links that connect you to Jewish resources chock full of information. From the Reform Jewish movement. And to it check out from Orthodox Judaism.

An overview of the richness of the whole of the Holy Week Christian tradition comes from this Catholic resource.
This site, At the Edge of Enclosure, offers rich background material on all the lectionary readings--scripture study, art, poetry and meditation. The author, Suzanne Guthrie, is an Episcopal priest. Highly recommended.

Some comments from last week's MONDAYS OF LENT

I have been reading your Monday scriptures and enjoying them very much. This one is powerful! Love how you set the stories in our contemporary context, and I have sent them on to women friends far and near. Thank you! - Libby, WA

First Reading:
Isaiah 42:1-7 (NASB)

"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;My chosen one in whom My soul delights.I have put My Spirit upon Him;He will bring forth justice to the [b]nations.
2

"He will not cry out or raise His voice,Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3
"A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4
"He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His [c]law.”
5
Thus says God the Lord,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and its offspring,
Who gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,

6
"I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
7
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

 

 

Gospel

John 12:1011 (NSAB)

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Mary then took a [a]pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to [b]betray Him, *said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for [c]three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 Therefore Jesus said, "Let her alone, so that she may keep [d]it for the day of My burial. 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”9 The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.