Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Spring night
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Jeremiah 31:10
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Beings everywhere, being born. New breath steaming, babies cry, ever-present mark of spring.
Little lambs need help sometimes to come into the world, and the farmer’s there. He stays up late, all night sometimes. My dad stayed up, not for lambs but for calves, and often pulled them into the world inch by difficult inch.
Like a long-legged baby calf, I burst with energy when the April sun is out. Full moon at night, full sun today, nothing’s gonna hold me back. How high can I jump into the sky?
The Passover is near. Even as I feel reborn, the angel of death passes near the portal of my life. Where is Jesus? In the Gospel reading today “many went up from the country into Jerusalem to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another, “What do you think?”
Jesus is not here. Is he coming? Later Matthew, Mark and Luke write that the angel says, “Jesus is not here. He is risen.”
But before the rising comes the setting. The angel of death is passing near the portal of Jesus’ life. Jesus does not wipe sheep’s blood over his door; he waits without recourse. He is the eldest son, about to die. Jesus knows the guard has not gone to sleep, but still, Jesus is about to die.
Father, your hands are large, your arms are strong, you pull me into life inch by difficult inch, and I resist. I want the caterpillar-comfort of my mother’s womb. Forgive me, Father, and open these lovely, sticky, newborn eyes so I can see the sun. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1273
