O God, please give me the ability to empathize with Jesus’s grief, as well as the suffering of others. Grant me strength and courage to follow his example.
Option 1:
Activity: If you can, find a location that hosts the Stations of the Cross and prayerfully contemplate the images. If you cannot go in person, you can participate through this Stations of the Cross video (6 min). Watch it a couple of times and talk with God about your response.
Option 2:
Reflection: Think back to a time when you sacrificed something important or made a painful decision, yet did so with a conviction that it was the right thing. What present or future difficult sacrifices do you face? What motivates you to consider making them? Talk with God about it.
Option 3:
Scripture: Luke 23:50-56
Reflection: Your best friend is gone. Now the body has to be handled. Enter the scene. Where are you in it? What do you notice? What emotions arise? Consider any experiences you have had with loss, burial, or being present with a dead body of someone you know.
Option 4:
Activity: Think of someone you know who is grieving the loss of a loved one (sometimes this can be long after a death and not only immediately). Spend some time in prayer for them. Cultivate feelings of empathy for that person. Ask God if there is something you might do to be present for him or her.
Option 5:
Scripture: “They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.’”
Reflection: Slowly contemplate this scene like a movie. Enter the story. Let the grief and disappointment of these days following Jesus’s death sink in.
Option 6:
Repeat any of the previous days this week.
Reviewing the Week:
Look back on the past week. What stands out to you the most as you have prayed and reflected on Jesus’s death and the days immediately after? Talk with God about your reflections.