By Rev. Cindy Senarighi R.N.
The Scripture (a trilogy) ~ “The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head, threw a purple robe over him, and approached him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” John 19:3.
To Mary Magdalene, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer.” Mark 16:6.
“This is how much God loved the world…” John 3:16a
All translations from The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ “Love is the higher law.” David Levithan, young adult fiction author and editor
The Breath Prayer ~ Inhale ~ Higher love ~ Exhale ~ is the law.
The Devotion ~ Easter has come and our Lenten journey is complete for this year. The Holy Week narrative of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection invites us into a sacred pause of reflection. We remember Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem on a donkey to a betrayal within his beloved community at a final farewell meal. The story culminates with Jesus’ crown of humiliation and death on a cross, then elicits a holy response from a Higher Love. Alleluia! The journey through Lent and Holy Week is a liturgy designed so that we remember and, once again, experience a Higher Love on Easter morning. God’s love is a higher law.
This year, at the beginning of holy week, the world watched as a fire destroyed a spire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in France. One story that emerged on social media was of a military chaplain who risked his life running into the fire to save a particular relic: the crown of thorns believed to be worn by Jesus. Let us not judge the action, but reflect on the importance of this relic as a connection to Jesus’ narrative and God’s transformative love.
The 7th chakra in yoga philosophy is the crown chakra (sahasrara), located on the top of our head. The crown chakra is associated with the color purple which is also significant in Jesus’ passion narrative because it designates royalty and healing. The gift of this chakra is experiencing unity with the Divine and the selfless realization that everything is interconnected.
A yoga pose that opens this chakra is interestingly that of corpse pose (savasana). Corpse pose is easily integrated into our faith-inclusive yoga practice. In corpse pose we teach that the pose symbolizes the death of our practice, and as we turn on to our side in fetal pose, we prepare to be born anew. This is a practice of a Higher Love that promises new life.
