A couple Fridays ago, for the Stations of the Cross, I used a different set of Stations called “Everyone’s Way of the Cross” by Clarence Enzler. This set of stations was used by Immaculate Conception Parish. In praying with this version, I was blown away by the tenth station–Jesus is Stripped. Here are our words to Jesus as “we reply”...

“My Lord, I offer you my all–whatever I possess, and more, my self. Detach me from the craving for prestige, position, wealth. Root out of me all trace of envy of my neighbor who has more than I. Release me from the vice of pride, my longing to exalt myself, and lead me to the lowest place. May I be poor in spirit, Lord, so that I can be rich in you."

May I be poor in spirit so to be rich in Jesus. All of these goods that we grasp onto—possessions, power, honor—can impede our joy. In this year of St. Francis of Assisi, it is good to remember how he let go of everything to live a new life with Jesus. I want to share a prayer written by Mirabai Starr that speaks to the joy of letting go. In a particular way, in the midst of sadness, we can find joy in letting go…

Praise to you, Saint Francis of Assisi, brother to the sun and the moon, to birds and worms, fire and wind. Your unconditional love of creation excludes no one. When you embraced the leper, anything left between you and your God melted away. In our habitual grasping, we have lost the joy of letting go. Whisper in our ear, Francis. Let us live your simple wisdom, and seek not so much to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. Thank you. Amen.

What are you grasping at? As we enter Holy Week, we will see how the disciples denied and rejected Jesus so as to preserve their lives. They were grasping at the basic need of self-preservation and didn’t want to lose their lives for the sake of knowing Jesus. W will see what a difference a week can make when Easter morning comes and the power of the Holy Spirit changes their lives forever…from a life of grasping…to a life of martyrdom…for it is in giving that we receive, in dying that we are born to eternal life!

Find the joy of letting go,
Fr. Jeremy