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As my visit to St. Anne’s draws to a close, I wanted to share some thoughts surrounding a plant that grows right outside the convent there. Last evening at supper, Sr. Elaine mentioned that the Bleeding Heart plant is growing. She shared that it, along with the tulips, is one of the first plants to come back in the spring. It is fitting, during this octave of Easter, that a plant signifying spring and new life should be making its appearance. It is doubly so in that the plant has such a connection with our faith and the Mysteries we’ve been celebrating. I’m not the first to have seen a connection between the Bleeding Heart plant and Christianity. People have long found beautiful symbolism here as the plant can remind us of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which, pierced by the soldier’s lance, poured out blood and water. The term “bleeding heart” also reminds us of how, as Christians, we are to have compassionate hearts toward those who suffer. As we approach Divine Mercy Sunday in a few days, this fits in perfectly, as we seek mercy from the Heart of Jesus and also strive to show mercy to others. 
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 I’m really getting excited (for lack of a better word) for Holy Week this year, despite my occasional withdrawal symptoms from not being a sacristan anymore.
There are so many beautiful aspects of this time of year. I really love the rich traditions, both liturgically and culturally …like baking Hot Cross Buns, picking out and bringing home a palm, dyeing Easter eggs, and (of course!) participating in the liturgies. I feel so blessed this year as I anticipate embarking on this holy time. I know that every day, at Mass, we are able to encounter the mystery of our Lord’s death and resurrection as it is made present to us on the Altar, but, Holy Week, it seems to me, is special in this regard. We are invited to enter into Jesus’ last week of temporal life in a beautiful way. More than just remembering what happened nearly 2,000 years ago, by His kindness, we are able to participate in it spiritually! It is such a gift, really. I’m not sure yet what, exactly, this Holy Week is going to look like for me, but I hope and pray that I am open to the Holy Spirit as He guides me to spend it prayerfully with Jesus as He approaches and endures His Passion. May it be a fruitful time for you as well. Sr. Christina M. Neumann, OSF  As I look forward to the fifth Sunday of Lent, with its transition from ordinary Lent into the sacred sub-season of “Passiontide,” I’ve starting thinking about the day’s responsorial psalm (126): “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
I’d love to sing it for Mass, but we’ll see what happens. It’s really a beautiful psalm, if you think about it. I imagine the Israelite exiles in 538 BC, as they returned to their ancestral homeland… What joy and emotion must have filled their hearts as they left the land of captivity! No wonder the psalm is filled with such poignant gratitude and exaltation. The phrase we repeat after each stanza is, indeed, fitting as we remember the joy they experienced through the great things the Lord did for their nation. Our thoughts need not stay there, however, as we think of our own lives. In the wondrous Paschal Mystery, which we are preparing to celebrate, and in the events of your ordinary life, and mine, the Lord truly has done great things for us. I pray that my heart, and yours, may increasingly turn to Him with joy-filled gratitude for His countless gifts and kindnesses. |
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