The theme for this Sunday’s readings reflect the whole theme for Lent:
“I will be their God and they shall be my people,” as Jeremiah reminds us in Chapter 31.
You may remember a couple of weeks ago, we thought about ‘spring cleaning’ our hearts and finding ways of encouraging each other.
Well, this Sunday and for the rest of the week, which brings us up to Passion, or Palm Sunday, we are reminded in this Lenten Poem of how much we are loved individually, not in spite of our weaknesses, but because of them.
A Christian Poem for the Lenten Season
No need to turn the stones into bread.Though many are hungry, we are well fed.This world of ours, we rule it still,In supposed supremacy, we fight and kill.From mountain tops we jump; death to defy.Certain that modern technology allows us to fly.What need now for the Word that remains unspoken?To which no one listens though their lives are broken.How could I have loved you more?And the Word of God came saying “Amen, Amen,Oh wretched generation of the enlightened.I gave you knowledge as a gift, but you have not found wisdom,I showed you love but you have not learnt compassion,I created a beautiful world for you all to share,But in avarice you have destroyed it. Too late now you care.You turned from the Word.Turned your back to the Light and let the darkness in”How could I have loved you more?My Word is unspoken but still it resoundsIn the hearts of those, who through silence and prayer, have found.More than a building the church is a communityOf believers who pray and praise God in total unity,Who in the Eucharist remember My suffering and passion,My obedient sacrifice, My loving redemption.My Father’s forgiveness for all who repent,Who leave the darkness behind and let the Light in.For I could not have loved you more.
By Jennifer McGuiganSt Beuno’s Jesuit Retreat Centre
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Israel, header image by Dave Herring