At one time or another,
most of us have faced challenges that
we didn’t see coming: the pink slip at work, the moment when our Romeo or
Juliet turned into Attila the Hun or
Cruella de Ville. For
some, it might have been that fraction of a
second when we lost control of the car, or those endless months when the family was hungry
and we had no money. For others, it might have been the day we realized that alcohol had taken control of our lives and was taking us down a road of fear and loss. A sobering medical diagnosis, the betrayal
by a friend, a door slammed in our face – all these and more turn our world
upside down.
It is precisely in these
moments that we need to return to the fundamental story of our faith. During Holy
Week, we walk with Jesus through his experience of loss, betrayal, rejection
and even death, and we find that his story and ours intersect. Our suffering is
caught up in his. Our own situations become part of a much larger story, a
story of hope and affirmation.
“Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us…” So wrote Gerald Manley
Hopkins.
Holy Week does not end at the cross or the tomb. It carries us through
the darkest night of the soul into an inconceivably brilliant dawn. Holy Week
leads through darkness to the truest source of our strength for today, and
renews our hope for tomorrow. Easter is not simply an
event to be recalled,
but a truth to be celebrated. When we feel closed down,
hemmed in, tied up, and unable to function, Easter breaks through with a glorious affirmation. I invite you to let him “easter” in you, and
to brighten whatever darkness you may know.
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