Maundy Thursday - Mama

Mama, you knew your Son had come to save us all. You knew that you were the mother of our Creator, our Redeemer, Love in its Purest and most Gentle and Precious Form. You knew what you’d signed up for when St Gabriel at the Annunciation had told you what God wanted of you. Your consent to allow yourself to be used for such a Purpose for the entire world, your fiat, you consented to be part of a much, much bigger and sweet plan than the world had ever experienced – and will ever – know.

Your love for the Father and for all was enough for you to, without a second thought, say, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ (Luke 1.38) That simple statement changed the entire fabric of everything, because you didn’t flinch, you stood and said, ‘Yes.’

You knew that you would be a pariah in your community, and you knew that the gossip would flow like a river. But none of that mattered to you, because you knew that God had chosen you for a Special Purpose.

Ah, the frustrations faced when wanting to write something beautiful and the words just haven't come yet!

Sometimes, when we ask God something, He'll answer with, 'Wait, My child. Be patient.' Heaven knows, your girl ain't the patient sort. I know, I know, try to contain your surprise. ;) But, it's true. I'm so not. I've been wanting, since Thursday after Mass, to sit and write a meditation about the night Jesus was arrested, but about Mama's side. One of my favourite things to do to feel as close as possible to our Beloved Lord when I read about Him is to put myself in that situation. Imaginative Prayer, it's called. I try to put myself in each scenario I read about, to really try to get as much as I can out of it. Being a writer, this works to my benefit, because of my really vivid imagination! ^_^

Writing isn't unlike the anticipation of a birth, because you're so excited for what's to come, but you have to be patient, let things grow and develop before doing anything with it. It's frustrating, but it's so worth it when you sit back and be patient. I've written about this before in this post.

After Mass Thursday, I got thinking about when our Beloved Lord entered into His Passion willingly. Without argument. Without a second thought. I got thinking, too, about what our Mama must've been feeling, seeing her Precious Son go through all He had for us, and how strong and steadfast she was, letting Him go. She knew what she was getting into when she consented to be our Lord's Mother.

A Retreat...

Last night, I was thinking about retreats. A lot. Before this COVID-19 thing started, I was thinking I need to get out of here for awhile and go be elsewhere to collect myself. Not ‘find’ myself – because we don’t actually ‘lose’ ourselves… – but to collect myself. Every retreat I’ve ever been on, even the scrapbooking one I went on in 2005, had a ‘theme’ of sorts.

Every single one. (= That got me thinking, I was going to go be with God for a few days out in the wilderness, but the people I was going to go do it with, they didn’t get a chance to get back to me when I’d left them a message, because the COVID-19 virus started hitting our country, too. Understandably, that retreat wasn’t meant to be, and I’m okay with that. Everything, literally, that I was going to do with those beautiful ladies, I can easily do here at home.

But, having never done a private retreat before, let alone one on my own, I was at a loss as to what to do, where to even start.

So.