The Stones of the Last Week

By taking a closer look at the “stones” that impeded Jesus’s last week, we are challenged to identify the obstructions to our spiritual lives.

When Jesus descends the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem to the acclamation of the crowd, he announces “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” In The Stones of the Last Week, Bonnie B. Thurston reflects on the Passion narratives in Luke 19-24, and explores the many references to stones, both literal and spiritual, that impeded Jesus’s last week with a view to their significance for our own journey to the fullness of life that resurrection offers.

The Stones of the Last Week reflects on the impediments to Easter, challenging us to consider our own “stones,”—the difficulties, hindrances, and obstructions in our spiritual lives—from the perspective of talking stones, stones of destruction, impermanent stones, stones that measure distances, and the stone marking life and death. Turn to this enriching resource as Lent unfolds into Easter, or for personal reading and reflection throughout the year.

Bonnie B. Thurston, after years as a university and seminary professor, lives quietly in her home state of West Virginia. She is the author of many books on Scripture and spirituality and eight books of poetry. These include Liturgical Press publications Saint Mary of Egypt: A Modern Verse Life and Interpretation; Shaped by the End You Live For: Thomas Merton’s Monastic Spirituality; Maverick Mark: The Untamed First Gospel; The Spiritual Landscape of Mark; Philippians in the Sacra Pagina series; and Belonging to Borders: A Sojourn in the Celtic Tradition (poetry). She is a contributor to Give Us This Day.