During the season of Lent this year we will be reading through the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew. Each day we will read only a few verses and ruminate on these verses for an extended period of time. What might it mean for us to move slowly through the details of our Lord’s passion?
An exception is Sunday. In many ways, Sunday is always an exception. For even during the more somber season of Lent, Sunday screams forth: “Resurrection! Empty tomb! New life!” For every Sunday is a Day of Resurrection. In the Eucharistic prayer we pray: “…who on this day overcame death and the grave.” On Sunday we will read the Gospel readings assigned for this year, most of which come from the Gospel according to St. John. We will meet a host of interesting characters for whom the encounter with the one who IS the Resurrection and the Life was a life-changing event.
Let us walk with Nicodemus at night, the Samaritan woman at the well, the blind man who regains his sight and Lazarus, freshly raised from the dead. And let us kneel at the foot of the cross and fall down with awe at the entrance to the empty tomb, beholding the mystery of the Passion of Christ our God.