Sacked-Quarterback Triduum Linkfest

That’s my photo of Raphael’s Triumph of the Cross over Paganism. Like all of my photos it’s short-sighted and a little off-center. Like me.

I wanted to write something of my own for Holy Thursday,, but the day completely got away from me, thanks to running around getting Buster’s lungs seen-to and narc’d up. My big beefy son gets off the plane last night looking green and coughing like Camille about to expire. I don’t get it. How can someone so big be so delicate?

Anyhow…I’ve taken a look at all the work I have on my desk and the obligations and commitments and realized I have no time to write, just now.

But here is my Holy Thursday observation:

We can go to Jesus with anything. The Self-Immolating Bridegroom and God who will kneel before us — on His knees, to wash our lowly feet! — is a God of such unfathomable love (and mysterious humility) that He is unlikely to be standoffish, or even take umbrage, if you find yourself so overwhelmed by events that you feel like a quarterback about to be sacked and looking for an opening; you can hand-off the ball to Him and say, “Lord, please run it for me…you know what’s needed,” and then put the great concerns out of your mind.

It’s like that story of the pope — I don’t remember which one — who would kneel by his bed and finish his prayers with, “it’s your world, Lord; I’m going to sleep.”

Sometimes, all we can do is say “Lord, you know where the goal is…please get us there…I gotta go pay bills…”

Just published over at Washington Post — my piece on Why We Need Holy Week

“. . . art moves from the heart through the hand to create masterpieces; rage moves from the heart through the hand to wreak havoc. This is precisely why Jesus Christ warned his followers that to lust in the heart is to already use and exploit another. It is why he advised us to keep our thoughts unencumbered — to let our yes be yes, and our no be no. Anything more than that tempts chaos.

These are not quaint ideas, but powerful truths that we moderns have lost touch with, and I go to confession because I understand that I have failed in following Christ’s lead. But I also go because I want to be challenged about it. I don’t want to hear “well, everyone gets mad, sometimes but you’re still a good person. It’s not like you killed someone, or anything…” because in truth, it’s not alright to give anger an opening, I’m not a “good person” and it is exactly like I killed someone.

Read the rest here.

Some great Maundy Thursday/Easter Triduum Info and links for you on the Road to Easter:

For Holy Thursday:

Msgr. Charles Pope: My, my, what the Lord endured at the Last Supper!

Heather King: Christ as Athlete and Agoniste

Was there Passover Lamb at the Last Supper?

Simcha Fisher: Next Year in Jerusalem

Deacon Greg: The True Image of Christ

Passionist Nuns: The Lord’s Supper

Whispers in the Loggia: “Do not allow us to become non-people…”

Pat Gohn: “You Will Understand Later”

James Martin, SJ: Why did Judas do it?