I can think of many instances when the Easter season has liturgically fit with my life: times when there was new life as I anticipated the birth of a new baby, or a family member’s health had improved, or a relationship was reconciled. Other times, the season has felt out of line with my life: after a death of a loved one, or when I realized that the habit I had hoped to change during Lent was just as persistently part of my personality! Some Easters I have been able to wear a short-sleeved dress to church; others I have been bundled in my winter coat as the wind whips. Liturgy and life do not always line up neatly.
This basic fact reminds me of two complementary aspects of life. First, God is in control of how my life unfolds, and I am not. This goes for both the process of my own personal spiritual growth and the healing of the world and its injustices. Second, the attitude that I bring to whatever is happening in my life, and whether I let God “in” or not, is a way that I participate in its unfolding.
For me, this past Lent was a season to do some weeding and ploughing of rocky ground. In Lent, my hope was to let God in to those places within me that needed healing and repair. Of course, this is the work of a lifetime and never finished in one Lenten season. I sometimes wonder if this is why it is harder for us to enter fully into the celebration of Easter for a whole season, as we do more easily for Lent: the world is not perfect by Easter Sunday, and neither am I.
Easter, though, is still here. After all, Easter is the reality that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and that life and love triumph over death and sin. Love conquers sin and death.
The way in to experiencing Easter, for me, requires an intentional shift in focus, along with the celebration of Mass and witnessing Baptisms and the welcoming of new members into the Church. I try to bring an attitude of celebration to all the good that is happening in my life. This requires both finding ways to celebrate in community with others and shifting the focus of my daily prayer.
My questions become different:
- What do the Resurrection stories mean for me this year? Am I feeling like Peter, ready to jump into the water with exuberance, because Jesus is visible? Or am I like the women waiting at the empty tomb, still searching for Jesus, though I can see that death must not be the end of the story?
- Where do I see new life in this world? Where is it peeking through the events and relationships of my life, even if it is as small as the humble crocus or tender snowdrop?
- Where has my relationship with Jesus grown in intimacy or tenderness?
- How have I experienced that I am God’s beloved one?
- Where have I witnessed God’s tender care for others in my world?
- How do I want to rest in or savor these gifts?
- How can I share, in action, these gifts with others?
- If there are places in my life where I still am waiting for new life, can I wait with hope and even expectation that God will surprise me?
Asking these questions, and awaiting God’s response, is part of the tender care that we give to newly budding plants. We are like those tender plants for which God cares. In tranquil times and in harder ones, Easter encourages us to pay attention to the bounty of God’s goodness. God really does want to heal, restore, and provide good gifts for us. Really. The truth is that Easter, no less than Lent, is a season of surrender. We are not in control, but Love is.
Where are you finding new life this Easter season?
Thank you Marina.
Just this morning, I am just puzzled to a born again Christian’s post that says, Easter is still pagan worship so I end up looking to a dictionary, and it says, “Easter is the most important Christian festival of the years – it’s when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that Christ died on the cross on a day called Good Friday. According to the Bible, Jesus was then resurrected and came back to life on Easter Sunday. Thàt’s why we greet everyone “Happy Easter,” it’s not a symbol of paganism worship, it’s a gesture of our faith that we often commemorate during and after Christ death and passion of the cross. And that from our sins, we are again back in a newness with Christ death and resurrection. We do not remain to be a slave of sin, but free from sin. Just like a plant in the soil, when it weathered, a new bud of growth is seen. So Christian need to be happy and celebrate life, but unless they never learned the reason why…
Thank you very much for this reflection of yours Marina. Blessing on Easter.
St.Teresa of Avila once had a vision of ‘Jesus’ and sternly reprimanded Satan,ordering him to depart from her.When asked as to how she recognized Satan, she replied,’His Image does not bear the imprint of the Crucifixion wounds.Only Jesus Carries the Wounds.’ Thomas was not doubting Jesus, but wanted to confirm the Jesus Was Real by recognizing the Wounds.
These questions especially the last one reminds me of my parish priest after every homily. Before taking a seat for some reflection he would ask a question. I find it relevant not to just celebrate Easter but to also reflect on it. Thanks for sharing
Good questions. Worth pondering. For sure, there are important answers on the way. Thanks.
I entered my 80th year today after the longest Lent of my Christian life. First of all, one of my several deficiencies as a Christian is that I have no real sense of guilt. There are many things that I would prefer not to have done but if you put me back in the same room with the same people, I would do the same thing or I wouldn’t be me, right? Pure existentialism. This year I gave up the news cycle and my Sirius radio. (I never watch TV. My wife leaves it on 24/7.) Thus I was alone with myself for long periods of time and that “stream of consciousness” kept bubbling over. The crowning event was Easter dinner at Bob Evans with my wife, 19 year old daughter, her BBF, and wife’s friend. Without any serious provocation on my part, my daughter unleashed a brutal verbal attack about all the ways I have “ruined” her life. Later I told my wife that I treated her better than any other person in my life! Now I am left alone with me. PRAY FOR US SINNERS NOW AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH. My daughter showed up at my (home) office at 12:05 this morning and wished me a happy birthday.
This is a great list of questions to mediate on and to examine in our personal life. “The way in to experiencing Easter, for me, requires an intentional shift in focus”
Great thoughts, transparency and reflection.
Thanks for the excellent prayerful message Ignation style. AMDG.
The questions you pose at the end are food for a life time of Easters! Thank you!
Thank you for your reflection, your words are a source of inspiration to meditate more.
This Lent and Easter season, I are drawn towards pondering the on-going paradoxes of faith.
Christmas, Jesus, King of kings, is born in a small backwaters village, in a stable to a young woman and a tradesman. They in turn become refugees, then a family living a hidden life in another village.
Easter, the beaten dead body of Jesus, Son of God, placed in a borrowed tomb. The tomb is a paradox because when I think of a royal treasury, I imagine shelves filled with gold, silver and jewels. Yet, this empty tomb filled only with Jesus’ wrappings of death becomes an eternal royal treasury of hope filled with the promise of unending life.
Thank you – just what I needed this morning.