An Image... Good Friday

Icon of the Crucifixion

What do you notice?........Is there anything in the icon to which you are particularly drawn?........What prayers emerge as you gaze?..........

I will admit, I do not like to look at crucifixion scenes.  It is really very hard for me, and takes a concerted effort not simply to turn away.

But that is the point, isn't it?  Or at least one of them.........the invitation to see and to notice the depth of pain, suffering, and oppression in our world.  And by looking and noticing, will it change us in the choices we make in our lives?  Will we, like Jesus, choose to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, and work for the Kingdom----for good news for the poor, for release to the captives, for recovery of sight to the blind?  Will we labor with God that the oppressed may go free?

My brothers and sisters, let us not turn away.  Let us look at the very soul of what is before us, and be transformed as we commit ourselves each day to a life of love, service and solidarity with all God's beloved children.

With much love and many prayers,
Julia

An Image... Maundy Thursday

The Washing of the Feet
By Jesus Mafa

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What do you notice in this painting?  What strikes you?  Is there anything you particularly notice that resonates with your life, with your experience?

I am struck by the light and the shadow of the image, and how Peter is trying mightily to hide his feet, away and in the shadows, out of reach from Jesus' gentle, yet strong and attending hands.

Jesus is always reaching out to us with these hands, and in as intimate a way as to wash our feet.  And yet, for whatever reason, we hold back in the shadows.....maybe not our whole selves, but perhaps just that part.  That part we feel to be too beat up or grungy or that we know, if we take a whiff, just smells really bad.  Let's be honest about it.  We all have those places, those pieces, those wounded or weary or smelly places in our lives.

I imagine, as I gaze upon this painting, Peter saying, "Oh no, Jesus!  You do not want to go there!"  And yet that is Jesus' very desire and offering.  To tend with love and care and gentleness and goodness of strength to those very places that are beat up or grungy or smelly or wounded, those very places we seek to hide in the shadows of who we are.

It is your choice...Jesus always offers but never forces our opening up to his tender, healing, attentive touch.

And so, the question emerges.........How do you wish to choose today?.......

With love and prayers for you, and for all our Incarnation family together, that we may know a journey filled with sacred blessings this Holy Week.

With much love and many prayers,
Mother Julia

Early Morning on Palm Sunday......

“What is the journey before me?”  

“How will I journey?” 

“What will happen?”  

“Will God really be with me?” 

I imagine these questions moving powerfully through the whole of Jesus’ being as he sat upon the colt, atop the Mount of Olives, looking down upon the city of Jerusalem below.

I think we sometimes forget that as Jesus sat astride the colt, and began his descent into Jerusalem, that he did not know exactly what was going to happen.  Jesus was riding into the thickness of the unknown, and it was an unknown filled with an atmosphere of oppression and fear and anger and injustice.  What was to be?

I invite us this Holy Week to “unknow” the Passion Story, and so to experience it anew, particularly as it resonates with our own lives. This is an important invitation, because it helps us to enter into the very depths of the story, so that it may again surprise us and shock us and astound us, and as it does so, open us ever more deeply to the tremendous truth and power of the Paschal Mystery, the truth and power of God’s love.

May you know the gift of some spaciousness of time and prayer this Holy Week, and may your Holy Week journey be blessed by being touched with the depth of the love of God, as, perhaps, you ask some of these same questions in your life------ “What is the journey before me?”  “How will I journey?”  “What will happen?”  “Will God really be with me?”

May the blessings of Holy Week nurture in you the transformative and sustaining mysteries of resurrection life.

With much love,

Julia

Mary's Anointing of Jesus' Feet

My Brothers and Sisters,

  

I share with you an image.

It is an icon from our gospel story for this Sunday, of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet six days before the Passover, during a feast hosted by Lazarus and his family (think Lazarus, Mary, and Martha).  If you would like to read the story, you will find it in the gospel of John, chapter twelve.

What do you notice in the icon? …. Take your time……  To what are you drawn?.....  Is there something you notice resonating with your own heart and life?....... Are there any prayers that emerge as you notice and gaze?

 

Gazing upon icons is a powerful spiritual tool and practice.  It invites us into an intimate encounter with ourselves and with God.  It nurtures a depth of communion that can transform us.

As we begin to move closer to Holy Week, I will be sending you icons to journey with us along the way.  And if you would like, I would love to hear from you of how or where these icons, and so the Holy Spirit, has touched your heart.  It is deeply good that we can journey this road together.

My Brothers and Sisters, I see the light of Christ in you every time we meet!

With much love and many prayers,

Julia