When we walk through the atrium on our way into Mass, the must-do activity is picking up a Saint coloring page or activity booklet that our Religious Education Director prints out for the kids. There are many little puzzles that pertain to the readings for the week and Maggie thoroughly enjoys them, although she doesn’t always understand the rules.
One week there was a “fill-in-the-blank” game. “Let your ____ _____ _____,….”. The creators anticipated children filling in “Let your yes mean yes” from the readings. They did not anticipate Maggie.
“Mama, I hope I got it right,” she said as she shoved the paper up to me. She had written, “Let your God love you.”
No, it wasn’t the Word of God but it was a message from the Lord. Let your God love you. Let your Savior save you. Let the Spirit fill you. Allow it to happen, choose it, and rest. Maggie’s lovely prayerful thought has accompanied me in my various harried moments when I am running from one thing to another. “Elena, let your God love you right now.”
Along the same veins, the Lord has drawn my attention to the song “Slow Down, Please” by Josiah Queen. In the chorus Jesus sings to his disciple:
“All the things you do for me
Are good and sweet, but slow down, please
All those things will always be
But sit right here, come and see
There’s not a better place to go
To rest your hard and weary soul than at My feet
All the things you do for me
Are good and sweet, but slow down, please”
Such a good reminder as I enter into Holy Week. I try to take on sufferings or offerings in thanksgiving for what Jesus has done but Jesus wants me to come like a child. He wants me to be docile to Him and His transforming love.
What does a child do when they see someone suffer? They comfort them, they bring them an ice pack and a bandaid, they put their arm around them and they sit with them until they stop crying.
May your Holy Week be a time of turning to Jesus to comfort the Lord in His sufferings but to also receive all of the love that will pour out of the Lord’s heart.
Two for Joy 