Prayer before Election
PRAYER FOR LEADERSHIP
(On Ele ction Day and
Othe r Time s)
Joan D. Chittiste r, OSB
(On El
Joan D. Chittist
Give us, O God,
le ade rs
whose he arts
are large
e nough
to match the bre adth of our own souls
and give us souls strong e nough
to follow le ade rs
of vision and wisdom.
l
to match th
and giv
to follow l
In se e king a le ade r,
le t us se e k more
than de ve lopme nt
for ourse lve s
—
though de ve lopme nt we
hope for —
more than se curity
for our own land —
though se curity we ne e d —
more than satisfaction for our wants
—
though many things we de sire .
l
for ours
though d
mor
though s
mor
though many things w
Give
us the he arts
to choose
the le ade r who will work with othe r
le ade rs
to bring safe ty
to the whole
world.
th
l
to th
Palm Sunday 2014
Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
The text in the Missal (p. 123: ‘Dear friends in Christ …‘) cannot be bettered. However, care should be taken to read it as if it were one’s own notes so as to stress the notion that we are entering into the Great Week, accompanying Christ in the Paschal Mystery.
*****************
Michel DeVerteuil General comments
The gospel reading for this Sunday is the passion of Jesus, St Matthew’s version. The story of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which is read during the ceremony of palms, is not merely a highly significant event in the life of Jesus, it gives us the key to interpreting all that subsequently happened to him. Meditating on this story is therefore an excellent start to Holy Week.
Lent 5 A - Lazarus is Raised
Opening Story: 1: A sign of resurrection:
As Vice-President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed in Communist Russia: she made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all made a gesture suggesting that her husband had been wrong. She hoped that there was another way of life – a life best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that this same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband and raise him up on the Day of the Judgment. (Gary Thomas, Christian Times, October 3, 1994, p. 26.)
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