Today is a day of waiting . . . waiting for our Risen Christ. Waiting for a new season of hope. We are an Easter people, and tomorrow is a grand celebration. May you all have a holy and blessed Easter.
Today's Gospel (Luke 24:1-12) shows even those closest to Christ still had some doubt:
At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
In Anne a lay apostle's book Staying in Place, she suggests we must seek to understand:
"God burns off our self-will by teaching us through His own systematic lesson plan which incrementally increases in us the willingness to sit in the Garden, like Christ, and accept that we only embrace the Father’s will by relinquishing our own will. Those are hard moments but in those moments come absolute and legitimate anointing. Now if we are playing pretend, we simply call life a cross and be drama kings and queens. Some things people call crosses help us to understand the incremental nature of our fashioning by God. But if it is real, a real Christ-cross, we know the price we are paying and we receive lovely dignity interiorly in the isolation that comes with heavy crosses.
What are effective Heavenly crosses? The loss of respect? The loss of one’s reputation? The loss of one’s physical strength or ability? The loss of the ability to affect regulate? The loss of one’s independence? The loss of one’s financial status? The loss of loved ones? The loss of ego (at the appropriate adult age and not before when we are supposed to be ego building, that is, until 24 years of age).
Some readers, as they read those sentences remember their anguish associated with those experiences. But the astute reader has already noted the benefits, spiritually, which accompanied such experiences, too. There are none of us, most likely, who would say, ‘God send me all of them.’ A wise person would not advocate such a request. God, Himself, knows what we need to transform. Best not to be prideful in requesting crosses that will neither benefit, nor anoint us. Suffering comes unbidden. Best to let the Lord design the cross that will strengthen us without overcoming us."
Lay apostles, think about the apostles and followers of Jesus today and what they must have been experiencing finding the tomb empty. What suffering they must have endured losing Him. But through suffering, we become stronger with Christ. Celebrate tomorrow as they did when Jesus appeared to them.
Thank you, Lord, for giving me hope and faith. Tomorrow will truly be a celebration!
God bless,
Bonnie
Today's Gospel (Luke 24:1-12) shows even those closest to Christ still had some doubt:
At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
In Anne a lay apostle's book Staying in Place, she suggests we must seek to understand:
"God burns off our self-will by teaching us through His own systematic lesson plan which incrementally increases in us the willingness to sit in the Garden, like Christ, and accept that we only embrace the Father’s will by relinquishing our own will. Those are hard moments but in those moments come absolute and legitimate anointing. Now if we are playing pretend, we simply call life a cross and be drama kings and queens. Some things people call crosses help us to understand the incremental nature of our fashioning by God. But if it is real, a real Christ-cross, we know the price we are paying and we receive lovely dignity interiorly in the isolation that comes with heavy crosses.
What are effective Heavenly crosses? The loss of respect? The loss of one’s reputation? The loss of one’s physical strength or ability? The loss of the ability to affect regulate? The loss of one’s independence? The loss of one’s financial status? The loss of loved ones? The loss of ego (at the appropriate adult age and not before when we are supposed to be ego building, that is, until 24 years of age).
Some readers, as they read those sentences remember their anguish associated with those experiences. But the astute reader has already noted the benefits, spiritually, which accompanied such experiences, too. There are none of us, most likely, who would say, ‘God send me all of them.’ A wise person would not advocate such a request. God, Himself, knows what we need to transform. Best not to be prideful in requesting crosses that will neither benefit, nor anoint us. Suffering comes unbidden. Best to let the Lord design the cross that will strengthen us without overcoming us."
Lay apostles, think about the apostles and followers of Jesus today and what they must have been experiencing finding the tomb empty. What suffering they must have endured losing Him. But through suffering, we become stronger with Christ. Celebrate tomorrow as they did when Jesus appeared to them.
Thank you, Lord, for giving me hope and faith. Tomorrow will truly be a celebration!
God bless,
Bonnie
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