LENT 2013: Small communities: Week 3
(maximum 2 hours, but it can be less)
1. Welcome. Let’s start..... (Perhaps have some meditative music as people are coming in.)
2. Turn off the music. Three minutes of silence... just silence... stillness. To help keep focussed,
just repeat a word which you may inspire you (e.g. ‘Jesus’ or ‘Jesus have mercy’;’ Jesus I love you’; ‘Be with me
Father’, or some such word or phrase, etc). Don`t think. Just be aware of God’s presence.
3. Sharing: What was the highlight of my week (please be brief. Two minutes per person)
We always try to keep the conversations of these meetings confidential. Please respect this.
4. Lectio Divina: a) Exodus 3: 1- 15
This extraordinary encounter of Moses with the Presence of God, is our meditation. To pray, and meet God is a Holy encounter,
and we must remove our shoes, for it is Holy ground! God can be met, but God remains a deep mystery. Through faith, we
know God, but at the same time, we are searching.
b) Luke 13: 1 – 9
St.Luke relates a few events of his time, just like we might read them in our newspaper today. Apparently some Galileans
suffered some kind of tragedy (we don’t know the details). A tower collapsed and fell on others. Jesus tells us that tragedy can
happen any time, and we need to be in a state of grace, knowing we can face problems any day.
a) Reread the lectio Divina guide, before reading the text.
b) Do the Lection Divina
(I prefer people use their own bibles, rather than us copying a text. This will force Catholic to actually open
the book, and read it... imagine?!!) They can use various translations. This will allow for a more interesting
conversation.
5. While people are thinking about ‘’service’’, short interlude of music, from some
inspirational CD
6. Time of prayer together (This will be time of Spontaneous prayer. People take turns to
pray... as they wish. There are two parts....)
a) Spontaneous prayer of thanks; praise; blessings
e.g. I thank you Lord for.... I praise you Lord for.... I bless you Lord for.....
b) Prayer of petition (e.g. I ask you Lord for... I pray for this .... situation... )
7. Read the contemplation for this week. (do not discuss it... just read it)
8. The meeting is ended. It is time to head home, til the next meeting. There should be no
coffee and cookies after the meeting.........
Contemplation: Week 3
Jesus is mocked; Crowning with thorns; Jesus carries His cross; Jesus falls
Jesus was mocked by the soldiers and attendants. Mocking is a terrible thing. In recent news,
a young woman from the United States was bullied and mocked by schoolmates to such a
degree that she committed suicide. You might remember the incident. It is a terrible thing to be
made fun of. We all have very fragile egos and are easily hurt. We hate being ‘’set apart’’ in a
negative light. The fashion industry thrives on the fear people have of ‘’looking the odd one
out’’. People are terrified of being compared negatively with others. We hide, we are ashamed,
we just want to ‘’look like everyone else’’. Oddly, and seemingly inversely, we must admit that
we occasionally like, ‘’to look better than others’’. It is the same root problem, if you think
about it. We hate being mocked. We don’t mind mocking others. The same fear motivates
both! Jesus was publically ridiculed and punished before the crowds. He never belittled others.
He was a humble man. He certainly understood our own fear of being laughed at.
The soldiers then crowned Him with thorns. He was ridiculed as a ‘’fake king’’. What terrible
head injuries he must have had. Because we know the head bleeds profusely, the blood must
have been everywhere. His energy must been terribly low after the scourging, the kicks, the
thorns, and all of this physical abuse. The Lord is in solidarity with so many women, men and
children who experience physical abuse, violence, raping and terrorizing in all it’s forms.
And then the cross. The cross is the singularly most important symbol of human suffering.
This pain however, intersects with the Cross, sign of Divine kindness. We carry our cross. The
Lord walks lovingly by our side, with His. Crosses take all sorts of shapes and sizes, be they
physical pain, psychological suffering, family tragedies or financial fears. We all carry crosses.
The weight can be terribly heavy. Through all of this, Jesus Presence is very deep and close. He
suffers and walks with us in it all. His presence is not always obvious, but He is there. The
Divine Presence walks with those tortured, those unjustly killed, the sobbing, the scared, the
lonely, and those who suffer. Human pain and Divine kindness kiss.
Under the weight of the cross, Jesus falls. He falls.... once, twice, and three times. Such says
Catholic tradition. He walked the Way of the Cross. Jesus fell. Unlike what some of us think,
Jesus did not walk directly from the place of scourging to Calvary. This was not the way the
Romans did things. They wanted to set a frightening example to the people of Jerusalem that
they should behave lest they risk being crucified as well. The prisoner was led down many
streets of the city, back and forth so that his suffering could be seen by all the citizens. There
were no ipods so people could see it ‘’virtually’’. The Romans wanted a live viewing of torture.
People sat by the road side and saw the prisoner bleed and whipped as he stumbled by. Fear
gripped them, lest this should happen to them.
The very young man, Jesus carried His cross, back and forth through the streets. Where did
He find the strength to continue? People jeered, though perhaps interiorly they were
scandalized. Worst! They had no idea this was the Word made Flesh, God amongst His people.
This was their creator. This is the creator of this beautiful world we live in, come in the flesh,
and here he was experiencing such humiliation.
We too struggle and fall. Our friends fall. They have difficult burdens to carry. They cry and
scream. We scream sometimes! Why is this happening to me! Why do I have this pain in my
heart. Why is my body aching. We become nasty with others. We are impatient and yell at
others. Our head hurts. Our body hurts. Sometimes it seems impossible to continue.
Christ Jesus is walking beside us. We feel abandoned, but He is there. When we fall, when we
curse, when we are helpless, He holds us tight. He is in the wheel chair next to us. He carries
our pain in His wounds. He carries our sinful actions and thoughts in His wounds. He washes us
clean when we ask Him to do so. He agonizes when we are humiliated. He understands. Christ
watches our ‘’stations of the cross’’. He loves us. He walks beside us.
Meditation: Think of someone who, like Jesus, is carrying a very difficult cross. Where is the
Lord? St.Paul tells us: “ In my body, I complete the sufferings of Jesus, for the sake of His
Church’’. (Colossians 1: 24) Remain some moments thinking about this person, and imagine
Jesus beside them. Make such an act of Faith in the Lord’s kindly presence.
Finish with an Our Father...........