Lent JourneySample

DAY 5-11 INTRO

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Luke 23:32−34

LIMITED
I am riding on a limited express, one of the crack trains of the nation. Hurtling across the prairie into blue haze and dark air go fifteen all-steel coaches holding a thousand people.
(All the coaches shall be scrap and rust and all the men and women laughing in the diners and sleepers shall pass to ashes.)
I ask a man in the smoker where he is going and he answers: “Omaha.”
Carl Sandburg

A ‘Limited Express’ is a train that does not stop at every station, an express train.

In the light of this, the title of the poem is a wonderful play on words. While the train is a limited espress, all of our lives are limited in the true sense of the word.

The poem illustrates how we are speeding along to our deaths. Limited! A crack train is a special, fast train with all its passengers who will turn into ashes and scrap in the end. Why does the poet put this sentence in brackets?

The last line emphasises the transitoriness of life: the man in the smoking compartment says he is on his way to Omaha, but he is actually speeding to his death.

As a young man, before he started writing, Sandburg loaded coal in Omaha. To him perhaps Omaha was not such a wonderful place at all.

DAY 5
Father, forgive them

Jesus is on the cross. It is his last moments on earth. He talks to God. He asks – nothing for himself – He asks for others. He asks for forgiveness. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (:34).

I wonder what I would want to ask God in my dying moments. Or maybe not ask? And if I should ask, wouldn’t my biggest need during the last dark and terrifying moments on earth be God’s protection and peace for myself?

Jesus executes what He came to demonstrate in his short life on earth. His focus is on everyone else, not on himself. What matters most to Him now, are his enemies! He follows the first big rule in his kingdom – to ask, and to ask for others.

Even though his Father knows all these things, He still asks. His attitude is one of caring for others, He puts the true needs of others first. It does not matter if they appreciate it or not. This is how He shows his love, a love that He knows very well. He knows who He is, He knows who God is. He lives with this consciousness. Even suffering on the cross, dying, does not change his attitude. What He asks, He also gives – forgiveness!

Forgiveness? Forgiveness for the injustice that the rulers and community allow, even his friends. He asks for forgiveness, because He says they do not know what they are doing. They do not have his insight and knowledge. If they had, this miscarriage of justice would not have taken place. The question is: will they ever have it?

Am I able to live with such a consciousness – a deep knowledge of who I am, who God is for me? Will I be able to live in such a way that I too will pray for others in my dying moments?

Jesus’ words convince me that He believes I can – He asks for forgiveness for them... for me.

EXERCISE
At the beginning of each week you are introduced to an awakening and invited to start the day with an imagination prayer.