During Holy Week, I hope you will find time to meditate on scripture every day using the “Seven Last Sayings of Christ” as he hung on the cross. Use the Lectio Divina method from March 10:
Spend at least five minutes on each step.
1) Read the passage several times, taking note of any words or phrases that stand out for you.
2) Reflect: consider why God brought the word or phrase to the forefront as you read or listened.
3) Respond: Pray silently or aloud, asking God to lead you deeper into the passage.
4) Rest: Spend the remaining time sitting quietly with God.
Today’s Saying: Mark 15:34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
This is the only saying from the cross that appears in two gospels and the only passage in Aramaic, the vernacular language Jesus spoke. He is quoting Psalm 22 (which was written in Hebrew). Read Psalm 22, remembering that Jesus knew it by heart. What does it mean to you that he is, in a sense, translating it from the Hebrew text into the common parlance of his day? In his agony, he is able only to recite the beginning of the Psalm, but it ends with a promise concerning the “people yet unborn.” Us.
Go deeper: In response to Christ’s experience of abandonment as he neared his death, complete the daily Examen (see Friday, March 24). Don’t forget that we will worship together this evening, Maundy Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
