Embracing Palm Sunday

Every year..holy week feels a little different. Last year I spent it in LA, as I was ready to go back to the bay and begin filming my first supporting role in a full feature independent movie. Although it had been a challenging Lent with my apartment falling apart in Burbank, I had an incredible blessing awaiting me. That experience was not only one of a kind for me but it lead to a different course in my life professionally and personally.

This year Lent, I by and large I sacrificed more and focused on Almsgiving, trying to keep the sabbath holy and praying more.

One unexpected blessing was an answer to prayer for someone else. I had been praying daily for a friend to find a job as she was graduating with her Masters in May.  I had been praying since late January and mid March had come and gone and still no word. Also the company she interned with had announced layoffs, and yet shortly after that lateast week she received an offer from them. I could not believe how incredibly happy I was for her. What seemed unlikely given the timing in the end worked itself out.

It is one of the biggest joys for me to pray fervently daily for someone..sometimes weeks, sometimes years and have that prayer answered.  It makes me so joyous for them and also makes me believe in the power of prayer. I also have to remember to stop praying for that but soon someone else is in need so the void is filled. :-)

As we start holy week, I reflect on what Jesus embraced out of love.  Love is humbling, powerful and the very act of self emptying. And it is that Love that redeemed and saved us. I look forward to the culmination of the week. The miracle of the resurrection..which proves no matter what the cost or the doubt,  if we persevere we gain a blessing beyond the cost or doubt and it strengthens us. 

This Lent too I focus on a different type of project..one that has been delayed and derailed since 2021. It is my hope its gives me the freedom to be here and in LA. 

I look forward to this week knowing a big rainbow lies ahead. May we embrace Palm Sunday and find joy and celebrate in others blessings and know that we too are being prayed for and blessed.

End of Christmas...ordinary time

 

Today I took down the Christmas ornaments and lights and other Christmas decorations.  The tree stands barren with a nativity scene as the focus on Christ's birthday and baby Jesus shifts to ordinary time tomorrow.

Ordinary time which is most of the time in the Church calendar year. Of course no time is ordinary in our lives. But there are seasons in Christ's life that are poignant.  His birth and what that means and his passion and resurrection and what that means.

Each teaches us something no matter how many times we celebrate and travel alongside.

But the end of Christmas is different from the end of Lent. Lent has the culmination of Easter and a 50 day celebration after 40 days of Lenten fast. The end of Christmas is the end of awe, wonder, and joy. We know what comes next in the not too distant future. But today I reflect on the trust, innocence and wondrous deed of the incarnation. Today the three magi arrive days later to see what we could not see. I wonder if we could really see if we were there. But I am comforted by Christ saying that blessed are those who believe even though they did not see.

On a personal note, this Christmas season brought about many little miracles that continue my phase of a new direction and beginning. The prevailing sentiment is peace mixed with a little bit of a roller coaster. What gives me peace is that God's will is always accomplished. It becomes easier when we allow and cooperate with his guidance and voice. 

So as tomorrow begins ordinary time, may the end of Christmas infuse it with extraordinary thoughts and actions being led by the Lord.