| Keely Wojda ’93 M.A.
Several of my best friends and I do a rosary walk to a local parish for daily Mass each sunny summer morning. This time is precious to us every year as we enjoy time with friends, the beauty of summer in Minnesota, and shared prayer. Each day of the rosary we pray together focuses on a particular set of mysteries. On Tuesdays and Fridays, along with people from all over the world, we focus on the Sorrowful Mysteries. As we walk, we offer our intentions, praying with each mystery. The third mystery, the Crowning with Thorns, is the one that connects me to today’s gospel. As we begin our prayer, we reflect on the irony that drips from this scripture—the world’s misunderstanding of what it means to call Jesus king. We meditate on the scripture and ask that Jesus will be the king in our hearts and lives. We pray that our lives will show that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed and ushered into this world is our priority, like the merchant searching for the pearl of great price. We pray that Jesus, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, will be the one to “take possession” of us—our hearts and our lives—every day. The Church ends our liturgical year with this reading. It’s a section of John’s Gospel so important that it will be read again on Good Friday. Today let us ask, “What do we need to move aside for Jesus to be king of our hearts?” May we also acknowledge that the grace to allow Jesus to take that place comes from Christ himself. |
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