Prayer and Meditation: Moments - a meditation on the Passion

1/27/05 | Knitting a Conundrum

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Gethsemane moments -
moments when I confront
the realities that I must do,
when sitting in the shadows
I wrestle with a heart
that longs to run away,
that longs to cry
"Why me, Lord?"
that longs to scream into the darkness
"No no no no no!"
yet to do so would be to betray
my Hope, my Love, my Truth, my God,
and under the moonlit shadows,
I join Jesus praying in the darkness,
confronting the conflict between what the will wants to do
and what the will ought to do,
and with him, I pray
"Not my will but Yours."

There are moments of heavy burden,
when I walk the Via Dolorosa,
the way of Sorrow, bearing my cross,
and the burden seems so heavy,
and my arms so exhausted,
and my knees so bruised from tripping,
and my back so scraped by the wood,
and my mouth so dry with the taste of the road's dust
and the sweat of the labor,
and the blood from where I battered my face falling.
And then I see you Lord
walking ahead of me,
so wounded for love of me,
so beaten for sin of me
so valiant,
so loving,
so burdened,
that the tears roll down my face
for what I have done,
and somehow, this cross seems so much smaller,
and I stand up and carry on.

There are moments You plunge me into the reality
of Calvary,
Golgotha,
of the Place of the Skull,
the place of your death,
the place of our renewing.
Here I kneel in the bloodstained earth
and look up into your eyes
and see how far Love will go for love,
and see how far Light will travel into darkness,
and learn how very far the Shepherd will go
to call his sheep home.
Blood sacrifice,
drop by slow drop,
each drop a lover's kiss,
each drop a promise of hope,
and in the miasma of pain,
shock,
confusion,
where you abandon each thing left to you,
your dignity,
your mother,
your life,
your awareness of the Father
until it is only you
and pain
and struggle
and at last,
even that is released
into the maw of death.
And I kneel there amazed
at such a self emptying
at such a sacrifice,
the Maker giving all for the made,
that I am breathless.
And my tears fall,
in remorse for the need,
in sorrow for the pain
in wonderous gratitude at the love.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world Galatians 6:14

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-5

And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Prayer and Meditation Ping!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

You might find this meditation worthwhile.

[syriacus]

Thank you for posting this, KAC.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

In one garden,
the lie was chosen
over the will of God,
and nature
groaned under the curse
and the grief
and the countless tears
of mankind
that followed.

In one garden,
quietly,
one full moon night
the will of God was chosen
over the lie
and nature knew
the promise of healing
that would free a woeful mankind
of its tears
had begun
in the unfathomable grief of
the one who said yes.

[Alamo-Girl]

Indeed. Thank you so much for this prayer and most important meditation!

[Ciexyz]

Faith-sharing bump.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I Corinthians 1:18

[Kitty Mittens]

Gethsemane moments...

Incredible are your Meditations, God's Servant, and I can't Thank you Enough for your Ministry. I Pray our Master Guides the Suffering of His Household to this Beautiful and Spiritual Meditation.

This Scripture, 1Pet.5:10&11, is a Special, Sweet Comfort to me:

'The God of All Grace, Who hath Called us Unto His Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus, After that ye have Suffered a While, Make you Perfect, Stablish, Strengthen, Settle you.'

With Peter, I Agree: 'To Him Be Glory and Dominion Forever and Ever, amen.'

[Knitting A Conundrum]

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:5

(one of my favorites!)

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Passion of my Lord,
strengthen me,
so weak and ready to sin,
may memory of each drop of blood spilled
pour into my heart
like a beacon of love
to pull me back
into the way
of my Lord.

O Jesus!
Bring to mind
each labored, pain-filled breath,
each step towards Golgotha,
each blow,
each word of mocking,
each glance at your loved ones,
each moment of darkness,
undertaken for love,
for hope,
for life.

In my weakness,
bring me here,
to the foot of your cross,
where I,
with the Magdeline,
will weep bitter tears,
where I,
with your Mother,
will watch with breaking heart,
where I,
with John,
shall stand witness to the wonder
Of God, emptying himself out for love,
dying,
that we might live.


When I feel so weak,
and mortal,
and lost,
and alone,
O Passion of Christ,
strengthen me,
that I might always know
the truth,
and in knowing,
be transformed,
safe,
in the heart of Christ.