From Palm Sunday to Easter, and every day in between, we’ve got Holy Week covered. Below are a few of our rarest gems.

A Royal Progress and a Parody of a Royal Progress

“It isn’t clear what’s happening. But something is, and though only a portion of the crowd are young enough, or hopeful enough, or desperate enough, or unwary enough, to give Yeshua their acclaim, quite a lot of them are curious enough to follow and see what comes next …” From Francis Spufford’s ever-insightful Unapologetic, on the Triumphal Entry.

See also this: “Francis Spufford’s Good Friday: Communication, Emotion, and Atonement“

“Have a Token Lent” and Other Seasonal Suggestions from a Weary Jesuit

“Each year we spend forty days pretending Jesus is going to die; we go hungry and grow — despite ourselves — angry; we prepare for what is going to take place. But it has, dammit, it has taken place. …” From the journals of John L’Heureux, the Roman Catholic Robert Capon.

Five Years of Grace and Bad Coffee: Sobriety and Holy Week

“On Tuesday night of Holy Week, I sat under fluorescent lights at a plastic folding table and gripped a styrofoam cup of bad coffee. Around the room sat men from all walks of life. Respectable businessmen, craftsmen and laborers, men living in a residential rehab or halfway house, and me: a young clergyman who looks like he has it all together.” Connor Gwin’s reflections on his AA Anniversary.

Spiritual Podiatry

“You could say that unlike most body parts, feet tend to be a source of commiseration rather than comparison, a body part that places us all on similar, er, footing. It’s no coincidence that Jerry Seinfeld once quipped about one of Elaine’s boyfriends, ‘He’s not a doctor, he’s a podiatrist.'” DZ, on the disgusting beauty of foot-washing.

Maundy Thursday Miscellany

A round-up of Mr. Rogers, Sally Lloyd-Jones, memes, and jams. Come for the Johnny Cash, stay for the Whit Stillman.

The Failure of Best Intentions (Mark 14:27-31)

“To describe Peter’s defection, Jesus uses that horrible word ‘disown,’ which Peter will do not once but three times. What emotions fill Jesus’ heart at this moment? Surely deep disappointment and despair, but what else?” From Larry Parsley’s meditations on Mark, An Easy Stroll Through A Short Gospel.

Sharks in the Water: In the Event of a Failure (on Good Friday)

“There’s talk of destiny-defining ‘exits.’ Of Jesus and his disciples: ‘The most successful startup in history!’ Of the parable of the talents, in which two servants are lauded by their master for turning a profit with money he staked them: ‘The first recorded instance of venture capital and investment banking in history!’” CJ Green, on what makes Good Friday good.

Projecting Our Way Through Holy Week

“How do we know whether the Jesus we imagine, perhaps even the Jesus we love, how do we know if the beauty we find in him is truly there; how do we know we aren’t encountering our own projections?” Will McDavid, on the anti-wish-fulfillment of the Passion.

W. H. Auden was There on Good Friday

“In my most optimistic mood I see myself as a Hellenized Jew from Alexandria visiting an intellectual friend. We are walking along, engaged in philosophical argument. Our path takes us past the base of Golgotha …”

When the Time’s Toxins – Christian Wiman

“When the time’s toxins
have seeped into every cell

and like a salted plot
from which all rain, all green, are gone

I and life are leached
of meaning

somehow a seed
of belief

sprouts the instant
I acknowledge it …”

 

Featured Image via here.

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