April 2015
Reflections of God's Goodness
Following Jesus means getting in touch with the mystery of His suffering and death. It means buying into the hope of resurrection. Our Lenten journey is nearly finished and we find ourselves dragging our feet. We resist moving toward the suffering, pain and death we know is just ahead.
We know that Jesus struggled in the garden at Gethsemane. He is willing, but wishes there was another way. That’s how we are too! In the end, however, Jesus chose to trust His Father to bring good out of His suffering, even when He couldn’t see how. Hope enables us to trust God’s view, God’s understanding of our lives rather than our own understanding.
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
God’s glorious plan teaches us through creation and our lives to look for the dying and rising that is the cornerstone of our faith. Year after year we endure the deadness of winter and rejoice in the glory of spring and summer only to fall back into the dying once again of winter. Because we experience this process year after year, we are confident in the hope we have for spring.
There is evidence of the Paschal Mystery in our everyday lives if we look for it. See! Tulips and daffodils are already poking their heads through the soil. It can be so hard to remember — when we are still experiencing the chill of winter — that spring really will break through. There is hope!
How many of us have struggled with a problem to the point of despair, only to find ourselves lifted up and restored. Each time we survive a broken friendship, experience reconciliation, reach out to others from the depths of our own pain, we see the reflection of Jesus’ suffering, death and Resurrection.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
Tomorrow the holiest days of the Church year begin — Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. Together, these feasts, called the Triduum, lead us into the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and Resurrection.
Was your Lent fruitful? Are you still looking for transformation? Here is another chance — consider participating in these most holy liturgies. Allow their beauty, drama and mystery to draw you into a deeper understanding of Christ’s suffering and the suffering in our world that leads us to Resurrection.
Then, together we can proclaim with St. Augustine:
We are Easter people
and alleluia is our song!
Wishing you Easter Joy,
Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn
Director of Development
