God in all things

Three days after Easter Sunday and it is check in time. Are you still rising? Have you escaped the heaviness of Lent and embraced the joy of the Risen Christ?

Easter is not a day; it is a season. We have many days to go before arriving at Pentecost and receiving the Holy Spirit. Hope lives in our hearts each day because of the Mystery of the cross. Keep rising. There is work to do. 

Peace,

Suzanne

We all have our magic places and getaway friends. These are the near and dear places in our hearts. We simply have to close our eyes and we are there. We sit down over a drink and before we know it the sun has set and time has slipped easily through the hour glass.  Mary and Jesus probably had those moments. Places where they would go that they could talk for hours seem like a high possibility in their relationship. I have those places and those types of people in my life. Do you?

When Mary, so profoundly bent over with the weight of her grief, lifts her eyes at the sound of her name by her Beloved Friend, she must have wanted to throw her arms around Jesus and hug him tightly. Instead he cautions her: Do not hold on to me. His words seem so contradictory to what we want to do. We want to cling! In these weeks of walking with the Risen Christ we must learn to become detached to our needs and keep our eyes focused on what is being asked of us. We must walk the remainder of this Easter season with open hands and hearts, ready to say not only I have seen the Lord, but I have heard him too and I long to do His will.

Peace,

Suzanne

In many ways, we are all on the road to Emmaus.

The day after Easter, and Christ is still appearing to his beloved. They still do not recognize Him. They are lost in grief and cherished memories. Their hearts are stirred, something reminds their spirits that this encounter is familiar and dear. Christ has been with us since the beginning of time. God knew us before we were knit together in our mother’s womb. When we encounter the Trinity, there has to be an inkling that this meeting is not the first time.

How many times in our lives do we fail to recognize Jesus and yet something later dawns on us that this was our road to Emmaus? We were accompanied on our journey by the One who knows us intimately. We dine with Jesus every day if we but have eyes to see. Watch in this Easter season for the Risen Christ on your path.

Peace,

Suzanne

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!! Truly He is Risen!

The Light of the World has arrived and broken the darkness. The Easter fires have burned and the spark of this Holy Flame has brightened our lives once more. The Morning Star has made night as bright as day. The strains of The Light of Christ have been met with Thanks Be to God! We have so much to be grateful for. We proclaimed our gratitude three times as the candle processes in the darkness and the flickers of our small tapers illuminate the church. The Easter vigil is such a beautiful feast.

This morning’s Gospel complements well last night’s. Mary goes to the tomb and suddenly there is an earthquake. The stone is rolled away and an angel, bright as lightning on a stormy night, appears to her. In the midst of her fear and grief, she is told: Do not be afraid.  As the women leave, they encounter Jesus who greets them with joy, and also encourages them not to be afraid. In today’s Gospel, more specifically, Christ welcomes Mary by name when she fails to recognize Him.  Mary becomes the bearer of Good News to the rest of the disciples and the world. It is the women in these Easter Gospels that shine the Light on the truth of what happened that morning.  

What happens when our world is rocked? In the darkness do we see the Light? Do our fears overwhelm us and bring us to our knees? Do we fail to recognize our Lord in the midst of it until we gently hear our names being called? Easter is a new start. We have looked at our sins and failings in these preceding days. We have given up and given in. Do we want to take up again the habits that were detrimental to our health and well-being or do we want to continue to give in to God’s ways and live into the blessings He longs for us to receive? What choice will you make this day?

The Light of Christ is here again. Thanks be to God! Do not be afraid. Jesus calls us each by name and desires for us wholeness. Walk in the path of Light and rejoice. This Holy day is meant for you. New life can course through your veins too.

Peace,

Suzanne

This Holy Saturday is quiet waiting, hushed hope, and still faith. The tomb remains closed. The grief is not yet settled into our souls. Rather a disbelief at what has occurred rocks us. All that had been longed for by the disciples has been destroyed in a violent act that stripped them completely of expectations. Like them, we too now wait, and try to see what our Lenten journey has meant.

Tonight Catholics gather around the world for the holiest of feasts–the Easter Vigil. This is a time of joy, anticipation and celebration. We light the fire, sing the Exsultet, proclaim a myriad of readings that tell the history of our faith, renew our own baptismal promises as we watch others enter fully into the communion of our church, and party well to celebrate the end of the Lenten journey.

This is the night of nights. This night we banish the darkness and welcome the Light, proclaiming that death has no victory. The Risen One has redeemed us.  This broken world is embraced by Christ. This blessed night there is restoration and healing. This sacred night heaven and earth are wed and the divine and human bonded for eternity.

I love how the dark church springs to light and life from the new Easter candle. This is my favourite celebration of the church year. There is so much hope that bubbles out from the rich symbolism. The darkness does not–and will not–overcome the Light. Let the flame that is rekindled in our hearts this night be found burning brightly by the Morning Star. Rejoice!

Peace,

Suzanne

Waking up to the sun on Good Friday seemed odd. I wonder if it will be this bright throughout the day. This day of darkness and somber recognition of what the Trinity had planned for us seems like it should be overcast and gloomy. This afternoon I will venerate the cross, gently touching the wood, kissing the place where Jesus hung, and accepting that I am a beloved sinner.

The cross is our guide. There are times we are hung on either side of Christ. We have carried our own heavy cross, dragging it through the streets of our lives, falling, wondering where the strength to get up will come from, and aching in ways we have never known. We have turned our heads and seen that the One beside us has already walked the path, his blood drenching the way for us. We have been the one who has cried out, “Jesus, remember me!”  Perhaps we have also been the one who has mocked Christ, wondering if He is truly capable of redeeming the situation we find ourselves in.

Yet Jesus in humility and love hangs there upon the cross, looking us deeply in the eyes, promising that we will join Him in paradise, His longing, penetrating us to our depths, heals us. Look back into those eyes this day, wherever you are on your journey and find strength. God is working something new here. Be open to what it is. Trust the journey to Calvary. May the Way of the Cross be a beacon of Light amidst the darkness.

Peace,

Suzanne

Our feet are dirty most of the time; our souls too need purifying. This is what this 40-day journey has been about–a little spring cleaning for our spiritual lives. Tonight Christian communities around the world gathered as one leader knelt before 12 ordinary folks and washed their feet. This is a great act of humility to both give and receive. We think of our feet as untouchable by others. Yet tonight globally millions of feet were tenderly caressed and blessed.

The lesson is a hard one on many levels. We must do as Jesus did. He who was greatest of all stooped low and did a menial task. Did each of the apostles feel the power of this humility and feel their hearts stop? Did Jesus know that for all of them the hardest path to walk was about to begin? Did Christ bless those feet with courage as he wiped them clean?

Our task is not to seek greatness and power. No, Christ clearly points to leadership as loving service. Jesus shows us that if we want someone to do something for us, whatever inglorious task it is, we must be more than prepared to do it ourselves. In fact, we must model how to do it. In the quiet acceptance of the duty, glory is born.

Watch Jesus over these next three days. What is it we still need to learn from this gentle Shepherd? Easter is coming but keep your eyes on the Passion as it unfolds. God has a plan and will reveal it to you. Bent in humble service tonight, we see Someone who will give us everything in total surrender for our needs. Who can be like this? The call is there for us to stay awake and watch. May we see with our own eyes what angels hope to glimpse.

Peace,

Suzanne

New life is coming this week.  Can you hold on?  The snow is melting. The cold is supposed to disappear. Temperatures will soar. Buds will appear.  Every step towards Jerusalem that we have made draws us to the Cross and beyond. Hope of new life is tangible as we enter the Triduum celebrations tomorrow. Easter is within sight.

These 40 days have been about staying attentive so that I might catch a glimpse of what angels long to see (1 Peter). I have noticed a number of things that point heavenward these past weeks. God has been at work. A resurrection is coming. How will the Lenten journey impact these next few days? Will you see with the eyes of angels what has been given to you this Lent? Look at the struggles, the discards, the garbage, the sins uncovered, the sins forgiven, the growth, the change, and see the beauty of the gift given. Is there new freedom? Clearer understanding? A lightness where heaviness existed? Does compassion replace anger?

Can you look at the old and see instead the new? Enter these celebrations with new eyes and an open heart. 

Peace,

Suzanne

This morning’s Gospel was the reading of the Last Supper. Tonight I gathered with friends who always host a magnificent Passover meal with a dining room full of friends. I love to hear the story from the Jewish tradition as well as how we know it through Christian eyes. It is a glorious story, complete with the parting of the Red Sea and other related Scriptures, songs, prayers, wine-drinking, symbols, and other rich moments reminding us of the faith.

I especially love the Dayenu song–it would have been enough. If God had only done this much, then it would have been enough. Yet God does so much more than we can ask or imagine. In fact, God gives completely, in wildly unimaginable ways, and wholeheartedly. God is the Great Giver. We are blessed recipients who do not always remember to mumble a grateful thanks. Every Passover I remember that God has already given me more than enough. I am always humbled by this thought.

At the end of the meal, several of us started discussing Manitoba Hutterites. A former Hutterite gave us a fascinating mini-lesson on how they came to Manitoba and it was as if the Exodus was being retold centuries later. How the neighbours to the south of us in the Dakotas tried to escape to Canada when the war broke out, how those who remained were detained and tortured, and how the army and government tried to break these people of faith. As I listened, I could not help but see the parallel of this story with its Manitoba connection. She told one heartbreaking story of how the army returned some of the deceased to the colony and stayed as a watchful presence during the funeral. Later it was discovered that they had prepared these pacifists in army uniforms for their burials. They had not allowed the coffins to be opened in their presence so their evil deed was not immediately uncovered.

This Holy Week is a hard journey sometimes. The events in our world make us wonder how far we have really come. All I can say is that Easter is coming and that is where I will keep my focus. May these final days of the journey to Jerusalem bring you hope.

Peace,

Suzanne

The gloves are back on. The hope of spring lingers but so does the frost, ice and snow. Today the sun shone brightly as I walked briskly back to my car. Hope is a key element in my faith life and this week hope will spring eternal. May your Holy Week be filled with blessings of peace. Walk to Jerusalem with faith that Easter morning will arrive with all the joy it should.

Peace,

Suzanne