SATURDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT O God, be merciful to me a sinner! (Luke 18:13) Reflection. A friend has been drinking. Foolishly we get into the car with him, and he has an accident in which we are hurt. We eventually forgive our friend for his share of the responsibility in the accident. Another day comes when our friend is drinking again. He insists that we get in the car with him. Remembering our past injury, we refuse. But because we have not forgotten, our friend insists that we have not truly forgiven at all. In fact, we have forgiven. But, we have also learned from our painful past experience, and choose not to repeat it. Suppose one has forgiven an injury and experienced reconciliation with the injurer--a process of two distinct stages. In such situations, it is not helpful to repeatedly bring our remembrance of the injury into the relationship. Discretion and a willingness to let the past be the past are called for, for the sake of the relationship. --call this a type of forgetting if you will. Lenten Question. Q: What is Passiontide? A: Passiontide refers to the last two weeks of Lent in the former Roman calendar. During this time images and crosses were veiled. Pas¬siontide as a separate part of Lent was discontinued with the 1969 reform of the calendar. The two Sundays in the old Passiontide were called Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday. In the current calendar, what had been Passion Sunday is now the Fifth Sunday of Lent; Passion Sunday is now the preferred name for Palm Sunday because the more important element is the proclamation of the Passion Gospel rather than the blessing of palms. The Latin name for this Sixth Sunday of Lent is Dominica in palmis de passione Domini, literally Sunday in Palms of the Passion of the Lord. Most calendars simply list the two names together as Passion (Palm) Sunday. --Rev. Paul J. Niemann Lenten Action. Reflect on your life with God. Prayer. Have mercy on me, O God. (Psalm 51) Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 03:24:04 +0000
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