Pilgrimage of Lent: Session Two

This second session was based upon a reading from the Gospel:

I. We began with our Evening Prayer, with the following passage from John 2:13-22:

John 2:13-22

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

II. The opening activity was gathering flowers to decorate the cross. We discussed the practice of placing flowers on the cross on Easter morning, a practice done throughout Christendom. It can be a beautiful practice. Then we talked about the obverse of beauty, which led us into the discussion of what is not beautiful, which led us to talk about the Gospel passage above. The issue for our pilgrimage? What would we take or leave behind on our pilgrimage (actual and figurative)? I've been with people who've sent back lots when they were on pilgrimage.

III. Concluded with the Lord's Prayer.

Buen camino!

Brett