Every Palm Sunday, I look at the characters in the Passion who make me most angry, or
disgusted, or for whom I feel the most empathy.
I pick one and look at what parts of my own soul they reflect.
Its not an easy meditation, but it makes for an amazing Easter.
This quote from Carl Jung always helps to prepare me for the experience:
“The acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of
a whole outlook on life.”
That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of
Christ – all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren,
that I do unto Christ.
But what if I should discover that the least among them all, the poorest of all the beggars,
the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself – that these are within me,
and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness – that I myself am the
enemy who must be loved – what then?
As a rule, the Christian’s attitude is then reversed; there is no longer any question of love
or long-suffering; we say to the brother within us, “Raca,” and condemn and rage against
ourselves. We hide it from the world; we refuse to admit ever having met this least
among the lowly in ourselves.”
C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams and Reflections.
