Holy Week~ Walking With Jesus And Mary

James Tissot: Procession In the Streets of Jerusalem

We have each made our way on our own personal journeys through the last five weeks of Lent; now we begin the final leg of the journey as Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday.
Looking back on these last five weeks, I see my Lenten journey neither as either good or bad, successful or unsuccessful. It certainly has had its share of good and not so good moments, but it has been a road that Our Lord has traveled with me, never leaving my side. Now as the days of His Passion and Death draw closer, I want only to return the love He has shown me and remain by His side during these Holy Days.
I know that on my own the weight of my own sins would prevent me from being able to follow Jesus on His road to the cross, so I am imploring the aid of our Blessed Mother. I also ask the intercession of St Mary Magdalene and St John. I believe that because they stayed close to Our Lady, they were able to stand at the cross with her.

These are bittersweet days: Our Lord's Triumphant Entrance Into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the celebration of Our Lord's Last Supper on Holy Thursday.
As I walk into the church on Good Friday, Jesus' absence from the tabernacle is not only visible but it is felt as soon as I walk through the doors. But there is the hope that 2000 years of Salvation history has taught us. The hope that we wait with on Holy Saturday. The hope of the promise that is fulfilled on Easter morning.
My prayer is that we not rush through these bittersweet days of Holy Week, but prayerfully savor them. Let us do as our Lord asked His Apostles to do: To watch and pray.

No one was more united to Our Lord in His Passion than His Mother. Let us stay close to our Blessed Mother during these days just as Mary Magdalene and John did on that first Good Friday; she will enable us to walk the road to Calvary with her Son.
Since I really want to take the time for more and deeper prayer and meditation this week, I will resume blogging after Easter.
I wish all of my readers a blessed and prayerful Holy Week that will lead to a Joyous Easter!