Hope and Holy Week

Reflections from a Scottish Garden III

Last year the Liverpool Carmel gave us several clumps of snow drop bulbs. For months they have been hidden under the earth, now as the snow has melted and receded they have come up, bright green shoots and the elegant stems with the little white bell heads demurely bent downwards. They always seem so brave, first to flower in the garden often braving the snow and the cold, signs of hope and better days to come, reminding me that hope is such a radiant thing.

I have been using Cynthia Bourgeault's Mystical Hope and she has this to say that I think fits with my friend's third and last brief reflection from a Scottish Garden:

"...in the contemplative journey, as we swim down those deeper waters toward the wellsprings of hope, we begin to experience and trust what it means to lay down self, to let go of ordinary awareness and surrender ourselves to the mercy of God. And as hope, the hidden spring of mercy deep within us, is released in that touch and flows out from the center, filling us with the fullness of God's own purpose living itself into action ..."

Perhaps we need to reflect on the gift of hope as we begin this Holy Week...