Week 3: Contemplating the Passion and Death of Jesus -- Day 3 (Friday June 7)

I make an even greater effort to labour with Jesus through all his pain, his struggle, his suffering, or what he is willing to suffer: At the time of the Passion, I should pay special attention to how the divinity hides itself so that Jesus seems so utterly human and helpless. I should make every effort to get inside the Passion, not just staying with external sufferings, but entering into the loneliness, the interior pain of rejection and feeling hated, all the anguish within Jesus. To realize that Jesus loves me so much that he willingly suffers everything for my rejections and my sins makes me ask: What response ought I make? (Spiritual Exercises 197).



I speak to Jesus, my God and Saviour, and stay with him through everything that happens... (Spiritual Exercises 198).



... Just as in human situations of taking care of the sick or ministering to the dying, our presence is often more important than our faltering words or awkward actions, so too to be with Jesus in his Passion describes our prayer response at this time better than any words or actions.... We should remember that faced with our shirking of human pain and suffering of the passion, we may have to pray for the gift of even wanting to experience it with Christ.... (Spiritual Exercises 199).



Using Composition of Place read and reflect on the following passages:

Luke 22:54- 23: 25

Questions to Reflect On:

1. How do I give my compassion to the suffering people of this world?
2. Have I acted on my beliefs? How can I be an agent of change?
3. In what ways have I like Peter effectively said, "I don't know him?"
4. When I am with Jesus in his suffering what feelings do I notice? How can I use those feelings to address inequality and injustice in our world?
   

If you have time...

Rent Mel Gibson's, The Passion of the Christ. As you watch it, what do you notice going on inside you?

Week 3: Contemplating the Passion and Death of Jesus -- Day 2 (Wednesday June 6)

I continue to pray for the gift of being able to feel sorrow with Jesus in sorrow, to be anguished with Jesus' anguish, and even to experience tears and deep greif because of all the afflictions which Jesus endures for me (Spiritual Exercises 203)



The Gospels give the details of the event: Jesus and his disciples leave the upper room to move toward the garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and goes to pray. He experiences such turmoil of spirit that sweat becomes as drops of blood. Waking his sleepy disciples, he faces the mob, is indetified by the kiss of Judas, and is led away to the house of Annas. I labour to enter as fully into the account as I possibly can (Spiritual Exercises 201 & 202).



We shy away from suffering don't we? Perhaps it's more correct to say that we avoid it at all costs. It's a very natural human response toward self-preservation to minimize pain. The question is, is it the right response? Spend time being with Jesus in his agony and pain, and notice what that doesn in you.

Using Composition of Place read and reflect on the following passage

Matthew 26: 36-67

Questions to Reflect On:

1. What have I learned from my own personal sorrows and pain?
2. How does the narrative of Jesus' suffering help me to find meaning in what can appear to be the absurdityt of suffering?
3. Can healing come through suffering? If so how?
4. How do I deal with the problem of pain in the world?

Week 3: Contemplating the Passion and Death of Jesus -- Day 1 (Tuesday June 5)

Concnering this part of the retreat Carol Ann Smith & Eugene Merz write, "The goodness and compassion of Jesus compels us to stay with him through the difficult days of his passion.

"As a Teacher, Jesus gives us a final lesson about love, service, unity humility, and remeberance....

"Gradually we recognize in Jesus' suffering the love of God f0r sinners of every nation, as well as the meaning of human suffering.

"Strengthened by Jesus' passion and death, we claim Hope in God's triumph over death, over suffering and sorrow of every kind."

The grace I seek is that God would gift me with a way of entering into sorrow and shame as I stay with Jesus in his suferings borne on my behalf and because of my sins (Spiritual Exercises 193)

To enter as fully as I can into the preparation for the passover meal and into the whole event call the last supper is my purpose in this contemplation. It goes beyond picturing the scene or reading the account in words. I try to listen to the way the words are spokem; I attempt to see the expression on the face; I am present with as heightened awareness as I can muster, so that I enter as fully as possible into the mystery I am contemplating (Spiritual Execises 191, 192, 194, 195-197)

Jesus' Passion began with a celebration of God's deliverance from slavery to freedom, from death to life -- the Passover meal -- a meal which remembered that blood of a lamb had the power to save. And it's at this point in the Gospel accounts that the story slows to a snails pace, noting in detail each move Jesus made. By slowing things down, the gospels suggest to us... "you might want to pay close attention here... this stuff is really important!" So enter into the Passover celebration with Jesus and his disciples and probe it for meaning and depth that you haven't before.

Using Composition of Place read and pray through the following passages:

Choose the story of the Last Supper from your favourite gospel or read them all:

Matthew 26:17-30
Mark 14: 12-26
Luke 22:7-38

Questions to Reflect On:

1. What preparations am I making to commune with Jesus, like the disciples did over a meal?
2. What have reverent or high impact moments of partaking in the Lord's Supper/Communion/ Eucharist spoken to me about intimacy.
3. In what ways could my life be bread that is broken and shared with people on a daily basis?
4. What does the Lord's Supper/Communion/Eucharist mean to me?