At-one Me With Your Love

When the hope that comes from our Easter faith is authentic it has to influence how we see our lives, including, indeed especially, our struggles and perplexities.

God is at work in us and in our world. The Resurrection of Christ is the absolute confirmation that what the goodness and grace of God has begun will be brought to completion. And what God seeks is nothing less than the transformation of creation.

But it will all be according to God's timing and wisdom - not mine!

My task is to so yield myself to the action of the Spirit of the Lord that I remain one with God's love and purposes.

I don't need to know how God is going to make it all come out all right in the end. It is God, not us creatures, who will see to the coming of the Kingdom. 

This prayer breathes that Christian confidence.

  God be in my thoughts, and in my heart. 

  In my left hand and in my right hand. 

  Atone me. 

  At-one me with you and your love. 

  Help me to pray for those I fear as well as those I love,

  knowing that you can take my most ungracious prayers 

  and give them grace.

                                                   Madeleine L'Engle

It is all about YOU!

American friar, Richard Rohr, captures the wonder of these Easter days in this beautiful prayer:

Loving God, we love how You love us.
We love how You free us.
We love what You have given and created to surround us.

Help us to recognise, and to rejoice in, what has been given,
even in the midst of what is not given.
Help us not to doubt all that You have given us,
even when we feel our very real shortcomings.

We thank You for the promise and sign of Your love
in the Eternally Risen Christ
who pervades all things in the universe
unbound by any of our categories of logic or theology.

We offer You our lives back in return.
We offer You our bodies, our little lives,
 our racing minds and restless hearts
into this one wondrous circle of Love that is You.

My life is no longer just about me, but it is all about YOU.

Touching our own Wounds!

I last reflected on how, like Thomas, we too can touch the wounds of Jesus when we reach out to the suffering Body of Christ today.

But what of touching the wounds of Jesus in our own lives?

Sometimes it is easier to show compassion to others than to ourselves. Many people can be harsh in their own self-judgement, their hearts tainted with bitter self-condemnation. For whatever reason, they have little or no gentleness with themselves.

But to have mercy on our own weaknesses,

to look with tender awareness as we struggle with heavy burdens,

to touch our own woundedness with understanding love

- this too is touching the wounds of Christ.

We are asked to mediate the Lord's overwhelming goodness to ourselves as well as to others. 

Touching the wounds of Jesus, in the lives of those who suffer and in our own lives – making contact with these wounds - still brings blessings.

Touching Christ's Wounds

What an extraordinary scene! Thomas reaches out tentatively, fearfully and touches the Lord’s wounds – the wounds of his love for us that the Risen Jesus will bear forever. 

And touching the Lord’s wounds heals Thomas’ own wounds of doubt and unbelief.  He is enabled to say:  “My Lord and my God” – that is the strongest act of faith in who Jesus is found anywhere in the entire Scriptures.

But this dynamic – touching the Lord’s wounds so our wounds are healed – that is a reality that still abides. For us also touching the Lord’s wounds opens us to deeper faith and love.

But how do we reach out and make contact with His wounds?

We touch the wounds of Jesus when we touch the brokenness of his suffering Body. We are all the Body of Christ, united with him, sharing in the one Holy Spirit. You remember what Jesus said, speaking of those who need our love: “You did it to me.” And on the road to Damascus the Risen Lord asked Paul, who was persecuting Christians: “Why are you persecuting me?”  In this profound mystery of our unity,  in our oneness with the Risen Lord our wounds are the wounds of the Body of Christ.

When we touch with love and compassion the suffering members of Christ’s Body, we are touching the Lord’s wounds now. And when we open our hearts to give in loving compassion, in whatever way, we also are opening ourselves to receive – to receive from the Lord grace and light.

I have seen it happen so often – people who are seeking a deeper relationship with Christ are brought to stronger faith and intimacy with the Lord when they take their eyes off themselves and show love to their wounded brothers and sisters.

We can touch his wounds today, and that gesture of faith and love still brings healing and blessings.

Our Empty Graves

I once got a card at Easter that wished that there would be "many empty graves" in my life.  Not the usual greeting! But it carries a deep truth.

 As I reflected I realised that again and again throughout my life the Lord's saving love has lifted me out of the graves of sin and shame, of failure and disappointment, the graves of pain and hurt, of loss and bereavement.  I have constantly found renewed hope and courage in the Risen Christ.

With the Lord there is always the possibilities of fresh starts in our lives.

With Christ every moment can be a new beginning.

This is what it means to say that he is our resurrection and our life.

The resurrection is not simply a past event in the life of Jesus. Nor is it simply a future event we look forward to in faith. Here and now, indwelt by the Spirit of the Risen Lord, the resurrection is meant to be a living power, a divine energy, in our lives.

What grave are you in now? What darkness entraps you? The darkness of fear or regret, of sin or bitterness, of  loss or of shattered relationships.

To believe in the resurrection in our lives means our hearts and spirits can now experience what our bodies will one day undergo.

May the Easter life flowing from the Lord pierce our darkness,  touch our weakness, and revive our deadness. Yes, indeed, may there be many empty graves in our lives.

Easter Light

We participate in his light and life.

We are busy here getting ready for the Easter Vigil tonight. One thing is clear - Easter is not simply a happy ending to the story of Jesus. If the resurrection was just that we would not be celebrating it with such joy. 

The wonderful truth is that all that Christ has done - he has done for us.  All that he has gained - he imparts to us. The Victorious Lord shares his victory with us, as  a free gift.

At the beginning of our celebration tonight the Easter Candle, a symbol of the Risen Jesus, will be carried into the darkened chapel. But we will not just look passively at that single flame. No, we will light our candles from the one candle, the light will be shared and spread out until the whole church is bathe in light.

So it is by participation we share in the new life of the Risen Lord. In Baptism we, as it were, lit the flame our souls from his one splendid flame. It is the whole flame we receive. In our oneness with the Lord we are gifted with his fullness - grace upon grace.

That is why Baptism is at the very heart of Easter. For it is through faith and baptism we enter into this new reality. Throughout the world tens of thousands of people will be baptised during the Vigil tonight. Some years ago, in our few Franciscan missions and parishes in Zimbabwe alone, some 700 adults were baptised during the celebrations of the Easter Vigil.

For us already baptised, tonight sprinkled with the sacred water, we choose again to live from Christ's Resurrection life. May his light so permeate our souls that we exult anew in Jesus as the sure hope for our world and the sure joy of our hearts.

Have a blessed Easter.