A Spiritual message of Easter/ Resurrection
Resurrection and the Pascal Mystery are indeed, the central mystery of our faith. Jesus, allowing himself to be consumed with passion for righteousness and swallowed by death has, in turn, conquered death once and for all with the power that is the promise of eternal life.
Christ's pathway of passion, death and resurrection was personal: it was unique. It had been fashioned by the Father from all eternity. Jesus was faithful to God's vision for him; Jesus embraced his vocation as the humble, gentle Messiah; Jesus suffered the pain of death; Jesus experienced the power of rising again.
God has fashioned a personal path for each of us from all eternity. Each of us has a unique role to play in God’s never-ending revelation of divine life, divine love, divine justice, divine peace and divine reconciliation. Still, the way to resurrection is the way of the cross - the way of giving up, the way of letting go, the way of surrendering any and all things, thought, attitudes and actions that prevent us from embodying the passion of Christ: the passion for all that is righteous and true.
Be certain of one thing: the daily dying to self that is part of living a passionate life is not about dying, stripping and letting go for its own sake. No, it is that all of who we are may be purified to more faithfully and effectively live lives of divine passion and compassion. God does not desire that we die to self out of self-deprecation, but that we die to self in order that, paradoxically, we may actually be more of who God calls us to be.
The clergy have preached on this dying and rising through various examples in our lives. I have asked myself: “Should I say this again, haven’t they heard this enough?” But you can see this dynamic in our current crisis. The basic Catholic social teaching of acting with the common good in mind. That is what most of us are being asked to do by following the advice of the CDC and in turn the Diocese. To the extent that we die a little each day and experience the fidelity of God's love in the midst of all adversity, trials, struggles and “letting go,” we can experience something of the resurrection every day.
Thanks for listening. Fr. Bill Graney