Monday in Holy Week
Walking the Way of Love
By walking the way of life and love, his place of true belonging, Jesus walked as his authentic self, love incarnate, toward suffering and death.
- Jenifer Gamber
In her Palm Sunday reflection, Jenifer Gamber provided a perfect way to orient our journey through Holy Week. Love is the fruit of the Spirit that we will focus on this week, and it is the culmination of all the other fruits of the Spirit that we have explored together throughout Lent.
The Christian understanding of love is twofold. First, we humble and empty ourselves to fully receive God’s love and to fill ourselves with this gift. As Thomas Keating reminds us, this is not simply emotional love, but what he calls agape—“self-giving love as opposed to self-seeking love.” Then, we focus on how we are called to share God’s love in the world.
Our culture often focuses on love as a feeling. As people of faith, love is more than a feeling; it is a decision. Jesus models love as a decision in all of the choices he makes this week. Through his example, Thomas Keating goes on to describe how “the growth of charity leads to self-surrender to God and to the compassionate love of others.”
As we begin our journey through Holy Week, we invite you to reflect on both aspects of Christian love, the receiving and sharing of it. We also invite you to make a decision to walk with Jesus in the “way of life and love.”
Making it Personal: Where are you being called to practice humility, to empty yourself of ego and pride to make room to receive God’s love and to let it fill you? And in what way are you being called not simply to receive God’s love, but to give it away?
Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes
We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.
You can listen to the podcast on our website by clicking HERE. You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast listening app (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)—just search for Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness