From Patheos-On Good Friday, 1993, around noon, I slipped into the chapel of the nearby Episcopal church where I prayed weekly for an hour or so and was surprised by something I saw. Someone had positioned a low table before the altar. On it was set a linen cloth, a small crucifix, a pottery chalice filled with wine, and an earthenware plate holding Communion wafers.
A woman bustled in the nearby sacristy.
I called out to her, “What a wonderful aid to prayer!”
Often when my mind is wandering, it helps to have some token on which to fix my eyes. Postcards sent by friends are tucked in my desk organizer, a fixed point of beauty from which to build a center for concentration.
“Did you arrange this?” I asked.
Still finishing her tasks, she paused, calling back that the Communion elements were brought from the previous evening’s Maundy Thursday service as a reminder to keep vigil over the broken body of Christ. Then, her work completed, she left me to the silence.
Read more at
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/gospelforasia/2018/03/since-1993-i-learned-to-observe-good-friday-on-my-knees/#LHUuKCkzXgyfVdkh.99
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