Peter’s Denial of Jesus
After arresting him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. Luke 22:54
One of the high priest’s maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus. “But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” Mark 14:66-68
Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord: May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38
On March 25 (nine months before Christmas), we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her of God’s great plan for her to be the mother of Jesus.
I can only imagine this young teenage girl never dreamed she would become the Mother of God!
Her fiat (Latin for yes) launched God’s great plan of salvation, bringing Jesus into the world.
Pause and ponder:
Think of a time that God brought a surprise into your life.
Thank Him for this unexpected gift.
TERROR!! TERROR!!
On every side!
Lunging blockade
Cavernous hide
Shrieking, clanking
Ricochets space
Chiseled evil
Horrified face
Arms of armor
Motherly clutch
Smothers wailing
with pressing touch
“Eloi! Eloi!
Forsake us not!
My God! My God!
Is this our lot?”
Eden trembles
Tyranny thrusts
Spotless slaughtered
Returns to dust
Bloodstained tunic
Swaddling shroud
Sorrow piercing
Behold your child—
In dry bedrock, up wells life breath . . .
Christ-Cornerstone vanquishes death!
Guiltless victims, pure innocence
Your sweet souls now taste blissfulness.
Death’s Call
With gratitude to St. Marie Maravillas de Jesus
The call is faint – or is it loud
the call weaves through the cryptic crowd
where there’s more roar than ought aloud
The call is faint – or is it loud
The call is not from reaper, grim
the call is sweet, a hallowed hymn
and through the chaos we do swim
The call is not from reaper, grim
We shut our eyes and stuff our ears
thinking we’ll live beyond our years
but soon or late, we’ll face death-fears
We shut our eyes and stuff our ears
The call leads to the endless door
where bodies fall from breath no more
with some souls dammed, and some that soar
The call leads to the endless door
When comes the day you cannot stall
and loud death blares its fated call
in arms of Love do blindly fall
When comes the day you cannot stall
St. Maria Maravillas de Jesus, 1891-1974, was a Carmelite nun whose quote, “Death is no more than falling blindly into the arms of God,” inspired this poetic reflection.
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