God is calling us to be with Christ in our suffering knowing that if we can connect a dark experience like this to Jesus, we will slowly connect the rest of our lives, including the great joys and celebrations, to the one who brings us home to God.
"Happy Easter"
April 12, 2020
During the present time, as we deal with this pandemic, so many in our culture are looking to how they will celebrate Easter today. As Catholics however, I think we should be very careful, perhaps now more than ever, to make sure we spend a bit more time in Holy Week. While we will be doing our best to bring an online Easter mass to everyone today (included below), I believe that in a deeper sense, we should be ready to remain sitting with Holy Week beyond the past seven days.
Some have asked, “Where is God in all of this?” The answer for Christians is: “Holy Week”. Easter is where we will eventually be with God. The suffering, the passion and even the death of Christ orient our faith to times such as these where still we wait for resurrection. We wait. We wonder. We doubt. We believe. We cry. And then we breathe. We call upon God.
Where is God this year in the octave of Easter? Perhaps still heading towards the cross knowing that it will still lead to resurrection, although not in keeping with our own calendars.This is the very essence of what we mean when we speak of our faith being tested.
MPB Easter Altar Flowers 2018
I believe that Jesus suffers on the cross, not to appease the wrath of an angry God, but to be with us in our suffering. In Romans 8:17 (which was read as part of last Sunday’s liturgy, wherever it was celebrated) we hear the famous Pauline line, “(We are the children of God...) if only we suffer with him (Christ) so that we may be glorified with him.” This is one of those scriptures, the meaning of which, can change with the slightest inflection. Consider the difference between: “if only we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him,” and “if only we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him.” It is interesting to note that “we suffer with him” is a single word in the original Greek. The thought is one big lexical chunk.
In the first instance it sounds like a call to suffer. It feels like God calls us to suffer before he welcomes us into glory. But the second reading seems to acknowledge that no matter what, we will know suffering and even some glory in this life. However, it is within our grasp to join our suffering to Jesus’ own, so that we will join our destiny to his as well. God isn’t calling us into suffering; life and the world will do that, as they are in this moment. God is calling us to be with Christ in our suffering knowing that if we can connect a dark experience like this to Jesus, we will slowly connect the rest of our lives, including the great joys and celebrations, to the one who brings us home to God.
Where is God? Where is Jesus? One of the marvels of the whole Jesus story is that God comes to suffer so we are not alone in our suffering. God comes to experience the uncertainty and anguish of human existence even to the point of grief (Jn. 11:35: “And Jesus wept.”) and faith-shaking doubt (Mt. 27:46: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). It is clear that God does not come to save us from our humanity but to join us in it. When life leaves you wondering and even panicked: breathe. That breath is God: God within, and all around. God does not create suffering in the midst of our lives. God creates life in the midst of our suffering. Where is God? God is in the very ability to form the question. We will not come out of this passion in three days. We will not be through this after “seven holy days”. We may not even be past it in the next month. But God is here. God is now. God is with us in the struggle. And if we listen, God will guide us, in time, even through an extended passion, to an Easter that we will celebrate as never before.
God bless. Be safe and be well,
Fr. Pat
This letter is reprinted from our parish Easter bulletin. We continue to publish weekly bulletins during the Covid-19 crisis and they are available online here.
Easter Sunday Mass | Fr. Pat Presiding
Mass was recorded live using Zoom Video Conferencing. Liturgical ministers from twelve separate homes, as well as an assembly of hundreds more, both on camera and off, celebrated the Risen Lord! Happy Easter! Click picture below for a video of the Mass on our website.
Easter Sunday Songbook
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