Reflections St Mary's, Garforth 2021

2021
        Reflections
        St Mary’s, Garforth

From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, this booklet provides:
   • details of the Gospel for the day and a short
      reflection on it
   • ideas for your own journey through Holy Week
   • a short prayer

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Palm Sunday
Reading: Matthew 21:1-11 or Mark 11:1-11

Reflection
As we read the Gospel today, we may wonder what was
going through Jesus’ mind as he approached Jerusalem.
He has given plenty of indications that he knows he is
heading towards his death, the culmination of his earthly
ministry. Did this waving of palms and cries of hosanna,
carry him away to a fleeting moment of hope that love
would win out without need for his sacrifice?

The distressing events of Good Friday are all the more
poignant because of the rejoicing that takes place on this
day. How fickle the crowd that welcomed him with joyful
shouts of ‘Hosanna’ only to turn to angry shouts of
‘Crucify Him’ in a matter of days.

This year, even more so than usual, many of us have
known the reality of a week that begins with celebration
only to turn to grief and pain within days.
The Highway of Hosannas turns into the Via Dolarosa –
the way of suffering. Our God is one who has
experienced the highs and the lows of human life and
walked them, just as we do now.

Walking Way of the Cross
Today put yourself into the story and see the crowds
around Jesus walking toward Jerusalem on the way to
the Passover festival. Are you a follower of Jesus or an

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observer sitting on the fence? Notice, the turmoil and
noise as you enter the city.

Reflect on the turmoil you have experienced yourself this
year and witnessed in others? Where do you sense
God’s presence in these circumstances? Ponder your
personal answer to the question from the crowd ‘Who is
this Jesus?’.

Prayer
O Christ, guide my path, as I journey through this week
of your Passion. Fire my imagination and open my heart
to your deep and penetrating gaze.

Monday of Holy Week
Reading: John 12:1-11

Reflection
What a warm, inviting image. Mary, Martha and
Lazarus, plus the disciples and others have gathered
together for a meal in honour of Jesus – and, no doubt,
a chance to celebrate Lazarus’ return from the grave.
But the hospitality and joy rubs up against the spectre of
Jesus’ forthcoming death. Imagine the atmosphere of
thankfulness, love and anticipation, into which Mary
brings perfume for the grave and performs this
extraordinary and extravagant act. Why anoint Jesus’
feet? Perhaps the answer is purely practical, but the
symbolism is also strong. Jesus’ feet will take him to his

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death. He will willingly walk the path that will lead to
pain and suffering for our sake.

Feet offer us freedom, carry us to amazing places and
across the paths of incredible people, and enable us in
service and love. Yet, feet can also kick in anger, stomp
away in hurt, march to war, or trudge slowly in grief.
When the feet of Jesus drew near to the place of his
death, they slowed and rested but they never veered
from the road ahead.

Walking Way of the Cross
Concentrate on your feet and give thanks for them.
Thank God for the places, the people and the paths
which your feet have crossed. Then turn your prayers
toward those in need. Reflect on the welcome, love and
care shown to Jesus by Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Ask
yourself: Where will my feet take me? For what are my
own feet anointed? To what am I called this holy week?

Prayer
O God, in the midst of my own life, whenever I face
troubles and worries, enable me to gain comfort from
the model of Jesus, whose feet never wavered from the
path you had set. May my heart overflow in service and
compassion.

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Tuesday of Holy Week
Reading: John 12:20-36

Reflection
Sometimes Jesus speaks in riddles…. Only when
something dies does it bear much fruit. To be lifted up
means to die on a cross. Love your life above all else
and you will lose it. Accept your death and let go of life,
and it is yours in abundance. It all seems back to front.
What is he saying? Despite the paradoxical language
about the life of faith, some deceptively simple direction
is given by Jesus: walk in the light. Now. For we do not
know when darkness might be coming or overcoming.

The Greeks come asking to “see Jesus” and he does not
seem to respond to them. Except that in all he says he
emphasises that ‘seeing’ him is not enough. It is
relationship that is required, and that relationship will be
transformative, life-changing (or even light-changing!).

Walking Way of the Cross
Life can seem like a maze, a series of tricky turns and
passages. As you journey through today, ponder the
paradox of accepting death in order to live life to its
fullest . . . the way suffering and trouble are sometimes
a path to joy and meaning….how life is a strange mixture
of light and shadow. Consider the unexpected twists and
turns of your own path and that of others you know and
love.

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Prayer
Lord of mystery, paradox and shadowy light, teach me
to walk in your ways, in the light, and to embrace the
fullness of life.

Wednesday of Holy Week
Reading: John 13:21-32

Reflection
The story of Judas tempts us to divide the world into
those who are good and those who are bad: those like
Judas who need repentance and those like Peter who
lean close to Jesus. But wait a minute! Peter betrayed
Jesus, too . . .even after his words “I will lay down my
life for you”. Human fear overcame him, just as it did
the others. All of the twelve eventually ran, hid, denied
and betrayed Jesus, leaving him to die alone, except for
a few women gathered around the cross. It is easy to
judge Judas and Peter, but all of us have betrayed
someone dear in our lives. We have let down a friend or
acted in self-interest or desperation rather than
compassion or courage. Paradoxically, the betrayal of
Jesus Christ is essential for his dying which then brings
new life. His earthly seed falling to the ground is the
vehicle for new life, new growth and the harvest to
come.

Judas, however, missed his earthly chance for
repentance and reconciliation. Let us not make the
same mistake. Lent is a time for acknowledging our own
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shortcomings, then turning to Christ and leaving them
with him, so that we may make amends and walk more
faithfully.

Walking Way of the Cross
Prepare yourself for Easter by reflecting on the need in
your life for confession, repentance and forgiveness.
Open your life to Christ’s loving gaze. See it as he sees
it. Confess your shortcomings, betrayals, and hurts. As
you shift your focus to repentance, spend a few
moments experiencing the mercy, love and forgiveness
that Christ freely offers. Allow yourself to be renewed.

Prayer
O God, take all the wrong I have done, the good I have
left undone, and place my feet on your straight path. By
your Holy Spirit, enable me to follow you more faithfully
and to forgive as I have been forgiven.

Maundy Thursday
Reading: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Reflection
A towel, a bowl, a cup, bread, and bare feet. Hardly the
objects you would expect to be at the heart of a King’s
final meal with his followers! You would expect a table
laid with finery. You would expect servants a plenty to
pander to every wish of those present. But no, central
to this occasion are a towel, a bowl, a cup, bread, and
bare feet. What a shock to his disciples that the mantle
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passed from Jesus to them is not a sword or a crown,
but a towel – a tool of women and slaves! That night,
Jesus embodies his new commandment – to love each
other in ways so clear (and so shocking, if Peter’s
reaction is typical) that everyone will know you are my
disciples. Love as I have loved you. And yet his
example here is so every day. The towel and the bowl of
dirty water. Not all, or indeed many, of us are called to
the extreme service of self-giving to death. Most of us
are just given a towel and a bowl - let us fill it with the
dirty water of service.

Walking Way of the Cross
If you have a towel and a bowl, you may like to ponder
them and the legacy they represent. Reflect on Peter’s
reaction to Jesus washing his feet. It takes courage to
accept the generosity and self-giving acts of others,
even our God. Do you have the necessary courage?
Thank God for the servants who have been Christ to you,
who have washed your feet literally or metaphorically.
Then ask God to guide your steps to those who need
your love and service.

Prayer
O God, you are love. In Christ you showed me how to
love. Now help me to love and serve, in my everyday
life, so that all may know I am your disciple.

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Good Friday
Reading: John 18:1-19:42

Reflection
These are not easy verses to read. Jesus, whose
judgments were always restrained by love, whose grace
and mercy put his adversaries to shame, whose
compassion extended all the way to the outermost
margins of life – this man was arrested, tortured and put
to death. What wrong could be attributed to his name?
How could his message of love and acceptance be taken
as a threat and rejected in this way?

The work and life of Jesus is brought to a screeching
halt. Or so it seems. The hope-filled hearts of the
disciples and followers on Palm Sunday are now full of
pain, confusion…and fear. If Jesus was the Messiah, why
has he not saved himself? What has he left us?
Nothing. Nothing seems ‘good’ about Good Friday, not
when we are in the midst of it.

Some Christians prefer to skim over the details of Good
Friday, not to face the suffering, yet how can we fully
grasp the extent of God’s love for us without it?

Walking Way of the Cross
Imagine yourself there on Good Friday, as the events
unfurled. Ask yourself: What would I have done, had I
been there to witness the events of Jesus’ trial and
crucifixion? Where would I have gone? What would I
have said? With whom in the story do I identify?
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Attempt to answer these questions with brutal honesty.
What do you learn about yourself? Ask God’s grace for
yourself that you may find a renewed courage for living
in the face of life’s many troubles and dangers.

Prayer
O God, on this dark day, grant us wisdom and grace to
see ourselves more clearly, to accept our responsibility
for the darkness in this world and the strength to trust in
your sacrificial love.

Holy Saturday
Reading: John 19:38-42

Reflection
The storm of Good Friday is followed by the eerie
stillness of Holy Saturday. John’s Gospel is silent. We
are left in silence to wonder . . . at the grief that surely
must have belonged to the disciples . . . at the mystery
of what may have happened on that silent day . . . at
what God might be saying with the language of silence.
This year, perhaps, we understand the silence more
acutely, faced as we are with the harsh stillness of our
own isolation and grief.

As we look ahead we anticipate a time when our
reunions with friends and family will be joyful and noisy!
As we sit in the shattering silence of Holy Saturday, let
us know that tomorrow’s joy will be all the more full
because of it. No one gets to the full delight of Easter
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Day without having travelled through the pain and
despair of Holy Week.

Walking Way of the Cross
Spend time today in utter silence. When thoughts strike
you let them pass by without response. Hear the
stillness of your mind. Soak up the uncertainty of this
day. Consider and pray for those who are deep in
uncertainty at this time – those waiting for a diagnosis,
news of loved one, a job offer or news of redundancy…

Prayer
Lord, fill me with your deep mystery, deep silence and
deep peace. In the midst of my uncertainties, let me
rest in your truth.

Easter Sunday
Reading: John 20:1-18(19-29)

Reflection
‘Early…while it was still dark’. The eagerness of the
women is evident. They are so eager to go and care for
Jesus one last time. Their determination, turns to fear
then confusion and ultimately to amazing joy. A
microcosm of the journey of Holy Week. The disciples
arrived into Jerusalem with Jesus, knowing this was a
critical point, determined to be there to support him.
But when events take a turn for the worse, they scatter
in fear, only to feel confused and despairing when their
master is killed and they are left alone hiding and
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wondering. But today, they, like us, suddenly see the
promises of Christ fulfilled. He is risen! He has
overcome death.

May we rejoice that the story does not end in crucifixion,
and death is denied the final word. May we simply
celebrate that Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us,
lives on in this community: the risen body of Christ.
Alleluia! Sound the bells!

Walking Way of the Cross
Walk in joy! Skip if you can. Sing. Laugh. Break away
from the dampened mood we have all felt over the last
year. For today is Easter and life is yours to celebrate
and to shout thanksgiving to God for all its richness!

Even if your life is hard right now, let the joy of Easter
permeate your defences and give you hope of something
infinitely better to come. Christ is risen! Suffering, pain,
tears and death will all pass away, but Christ will last for
ever.

Prayer
Risen Lord, despite all that we face in this time, may I
throw myself with reckless abandon into the glory of
your goodness this Easter Day! Alleluia! Christ is risen!

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