MY NOT VERY GOOD LENT

 

This year, I've not kept a very good Lent. I am not any longer settled in my mind about the meaning of a good Lent. I think, for me, it's not so much about giving up something I like, as it is about doing something good and positive. I made two Lenten resolutions: to be on time to Sunday services and to attend the Lenten meditations on Thursday evenings at my church. I've kept the resolution to arrive in good time on Sunday pretty well. I've was a little late only once. I failed the Thursday test across the board. In my conscious mind I wanted to attend, but I forgot every single Thursday.

In addition, I've been playing around in my mind with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I've reached one conclusion: Jesus was wise to teach us to forgive 70 times 7. I take Jesus' words on forgiveness seriously. Whether I forgive or not is a choice, but if I choose to hold on to resentment and unforgiveness, I know that I do wrong. I believe that forgiveness begins with an act of the will, which step I can only take with the help of God's grace. I've come to understand that forgiveness does not consist in feelings - warm and fuzzy feelings toward those to whom I extend forgiveness. However, I pray that my feelings will eventually line up with my will to forgive. When and if the feelings come in line, the entire process becomes easier.

I've also learned that once I've forgiven an offense, it's not necessarily a done deal forever and ever, amen. I realize that, at times, I must forgive the same damned offense over and over. That's when Jesus' answer to the question of how many times we must forgive comes alive. For me, the key is not to be defeated when hard feelings return toward the person who committed the offense that I thought was settled and forgiven, but to forgive all over again. I speak of persons both living and dead.

Do I wait to forgive until the person who offended asks forgiveness? Jesus did not, therefore I must not either. Besides, some people never ask forgiveness. Those pesky words in The Lord's Prayer, in which I ask God to forgive me as I forgive others simply do not go away, however much I would sometimes wish them to.

In purely human terms, I believe that harboring resentment and unforgiveness is unhealthy to the point of being poisonous.

Perhaps the "playing around in my mind with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation" will serve as a home Lenten meditation.

Thus endeth the sermon.

And I cheated by getting your attention with a cartoon sent by Ann. Please forgive me.

JESUS AND MO

 

Thanks to Lisa.

From Jesus and Mo.

Permission under Creative Commons use.

BREATHTAKING!

From the Times:

A defiant Pope Benedict XVI indicated yesterday that he would not be intimidated by the clerical sex abuse crisis now engulfing the Church and threatening to undermine his authority.

Speaking during Palm Sunday Mass, he said that faith in Christ “helps lead us towards courage which does not allow us to be intimidated by the chatter of dominant opinions”.
....

Father Lombardi said: “The recent media attacks have without doubt caused damage. But the authority of the Pope and the commitment of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith against sex abuse of minors will come out of this not weakened but strengthened.”

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, defended the Pope, saying that he was at the forefront of efforts to tackle the problem of clerical sex abuse. The archbishop told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “The Pope will not resign. Frankly there is no strong reason for him to do so. In fact, it is the other way around. He is the one above all else in Rome that has tackled this thing head on.” (My emphasis)

The RCC tries the "putting facts on the ground" strategy. Just keep saying the words, and they will come to be true. The magic words will not work this time around. The pope and his close advisors are in denial about the damage to their moral authority, which is in shreds at the present time. New revelations of older abuse will probably continue to come to light. The pope's problems are not behind him, and he and his advisors will need to come out of denial if the church is to make a new beginning and the powers in the church restore to themselves any sort of credibility.

H/T to Mark Harris at Preludium for the link to the article in the Times.

COME ON!

Stolen from Ann at Facebook.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

One path forward for the Roman Catholic Church to recover from the numerous revelations of child abuse by clergy and cover-up by those in authority might be for Pope Benedict to call for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

PLEASE PRAY...

...for Frank, who will have surgery tomorrow to remove a section of his colon because of repeated attacks of diverticulitis.

...for Tom (not my Tom) who will have surgery in a few days to remove a tumor on his brain.

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servants Frank and Tom the help of your power, that their sicknesses may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

UPDATE: Frank's surgery went very well. The doctors were able to do a laparoscopy.

JESUS IN LOVE - CHRIST'S PASSION

A queer version of Christ’s Passion is running in daily installments this week from Palm Sunday through Easter. Each daily post features a queer Christian painting and an excerpt from the novel Jesus in Love: At the Cross by Kittredge Cherry.

Today Jesus in Love Blog features our friend Doug Blanchard's painting "Jesus Enters the City". Doug (aka Counterlight) blogs at Counterlight's Peculiars.

HYDE PARK

 

When I visited my friend Ginnie in Connecticut, we rode to Hyde Park, the home of President Franklin Roosevelt. The gardens and grounds at Hyde Park are lovely. The picture above shows color from turning leaves. I understand why FDR said of Hyde Park:

"All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River"

 

Above is my friend Ginnie, sitting on one of the benches that are part of the bronze sculpture of Eleanor and Franklin that is outside the Visitor's Center. The figures are slightly larger than life-size, and I found them a bit spooky because, except for the color, they were quite life-like. Even when I look at the photos, I'm a little freaked out. Strange.

 

There I am. Franklin has his arm around me, which is really weird. Why would statues have such an effect on me?

 

Above is the main house at Hyde Park. The interior of the house includes little or nothing in the way of Eleanor's taste in its furnishings or decor. FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt was a strong presence in the lives of Eleanor and FDR for many years of their marriage. Only after a long, gradual process were Eleanor and FDR able remove themselves from her influence.

Another post or two on our visit will follow.

IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD - 2

 

 

 

 

Don't blame me. Blame Ann.

UPDATE: And blame Cathy, too, for asking to see the rest of pictures in the series.

AFTER PALM SUNDAY - 2007

 

Palmesel means palm donkey in German, but most often refers to a statue of Christ on a donkey. These statues were mounted on a wheeled platform and used in Palm Sunday processions.

I note that in the statue illustrated above, Jesus appears to have a receding hairline. Take heart all you guys who have less than a full, luxuriant growth of hair on your heads. Perhaps Jesus was one of you.

Sunday I missed going to church because I took the Katrina disaster tour, with Scout of First Draft as the tour guide. She knows her way around New Orleans, especially the devastated areas, like a native, although she lives in Wisconsin. It was a strange, but perhaps appropriate initiation into Holy Week.

So far, I have not yet adjusted to the compression of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday into one Sunday. With this arrangement, we move from Jesus riding triumphant - albeit on a donkey, a lowly animal compared to a horse - with the crowds shouting "Hosanna in the highest!" and waving palm branches to an abrupt thrust into the Passion story and Holy Week.

I've just finished reading the Passion of Our Lord from Matthew's Gospel. Often when I'm reading something familiar, certain words will leap out to grab my attention, words that I have taken little note of in previous readings. Today the words were from Matthew 26:56, "Then all the disciples deserted him and fled."

How many times have I deserted Jesus and fled from him? More often than I'd like, I'm ashamed to say. Perhaps that's fertile ground for meditation during this Holy Week.

Note: Reposted with slight editing after Palm Sunday three years ago, the day after a group of us gutted a house in Gentilly in New Orleans under the auspices of ACORN, which is now defunct as an organization. A family now lives in the renovated house.

Photo from The Cloisters - A Medieval Art Museum in Fort Tyron Park, New York City.

UPDATE: Doorman-Priest quotes from The Last Week by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan on the competing processions into Jerusalem by Jesus and Pontius Pilate.