Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio
we are going to jerusalem
Meditating on the last few 'sayings' of Jesus whilst he hung on the cross has been a meditative approach to Lent since the 12th Century. We will take one saying per day through Holy Week. They concentrate our reflections on naming here, as opposed to saying I should be elsewhere or be someone else. This, O Tuama suggests, is the beginning of prayer.
Recalling Jesus' appearance to the hiding disciples in John 20 , 'to people locked in a room of fear he said, 'Hello', welcoming them to a place of deep encounter with themselves, with their fear, with each other and with the incarnate one in their midst.' (O Tuama)
"They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. " (Mark 10: 32,33)