Lent Meditation Day 25
The Last Supper was over. Jesus and the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane.
A Note from Ruth
These meditations are a reflection of my personal journey through Lent at a time when I was experiencing deep spiritual growth and learning what it means to grow in community as a student at the Academy for Formation and Mission. In part, I wrote them to process my own thoughts, but mainly to share those contemplations, because I felt they were meant to be experienced by others. My hope was to encourage others to go deep, to see God and Lent with a new perspective, and to self-reflect in a way that brings hope.
Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:37-38).
Jesus is no stranger to sorrow — heart wrenching sorrow.
We all know sorrow at times in our lives, and sometimes that sorrow is deep. The loss of a loved one who we can’t imagine living without. A frightening illness. Worry for a child who is making dangerous or destructive choices. And oh so many other things.
Jesus gets it at a very deep level. Someone said to me recently that prayer is not just about God doing something to help the people we pray for. It is about us, in the sense that being with God when we don’t know where else to go gets us through and brings us peace.
Will you join my in the practice of prayer as a way to be with God for what remains of lent? We can do this simply by sitting quietly, closing our eyes, and asking God to be with us in our spirits. We can bring our sorrow and offer it to God to carry like Jesus did in the garden.