Thoughts on Holy Week from Fr. Richard Rohr

I suscribe to Richard Rohr’s daily meditations … here’s one very appropriate for this week:
Question of the day:
How do I stand against hate without becoming hate myself?
We would all agree that evil is to be rejected and overcome; the only question is, how? How can we stand against evil without becoming a mirror—but denied—image of the same? That is often the heart of the matter, and in my experience is resolved successfully by a very small portion of people, even though it is quite clearly resolved in the life, death and teaching of Jesus.
[Jesus gives us] a totally different way of dealing with evil—absorbing it in God (which is the real meaning of the suffering body of Jesus) instead of attacking it outside. It is undoubtedly the most counterintuitive theme of the entire Bible.
from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 143-145
I’ll include another beautiful Holy Week meditation after the jump …

THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS
Question of the day:
How can gazing upon the crucified God transform us?
This deep gazing upon the mystery of divine and human suffering is found in the prophet Zechariah in a very telling text that became a prophecy for the transformative power of the victims of history.
He calls Israel to “Look upon the pierced one and to mourn over him as for an only son,” and “weep for him as for a firstborn child,” and then “from that mourning” (five times repeated) will flow “a spirit of kindness and prayer” (12:10) and “a fountain of water” (13:1; 14:8).
I believe we are invited to gaze upon the image of the crucified to soften our hearts toward God, and to know that God’s heart has always been softened toward us, even and most especially in our suffering. This softens us toward ourselves and all others who suffer.
from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 192