And, so, we find ourselves on this glorious day of Christ’s Resurrection, perhaps distracted and despondent, instead of joyful at our Saviour’s Rising from the Dead, expressing great gratitude for his ultimate sacrifice for our sinful condition, and celebrating it with family, friends and food.
Instead, are we sitting in our homes, pondering the strangeness of our isolation from each other, and dreading the weight of what is to come when the door opens? Like a child – who has been sent to their room to think about what they have done, to recognize the repercussions of their poor choices, and consider changing their ways for the good – we, too, wonder like the child, ‘Will we be forgiven and blessed? Will we be welcomed back to the dinner table? Or will we go to sleep hungry, saddened by separation from our family, our universal family? But we are Not children. 1 Corinthians 13:11 tells us: ‘When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; but when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.’ In many ways our ways have been childish. In his book The Democracy of Suffering: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, Philosophy in the Anthropocene (or our current geological age), Canadian philosopher, Todd Dufresne, presents 13 major features of our world’s condition: such as the rise in social inequality, existential angst, and a major shift in human consciousness. His call is even more urgent for new ways of understanding what we’re doing wrong, and to develop new ways to live in the future. We are the most noble of all creatures, made in the likeness of God. We are his beloved; a great and beautiful, intelligent and productive people, capable of endless good and positive development on this fragile planet. If we take the strength of Christ’s cross into our hearts, we can do anything. But it must be done with love. Today is about hope, hope for a future which awaits our skills, talents, ingenuity; hope which springs from the most miraculous event of all human history: the rising of a human being from the dead, the Resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. And let us not forget: today is also a very important reminder of our own ‘resurrection’. The master composer, Gustav Mahler, became Catholic, mainly to protect his music career in a world hostile to his Judaism. Yet, he would experience an unexpected, intense conversion to the Faith, so moving that he composed possibly the greatest and most celebrated of all his works, Symphony no. 2, “The Resurrection”. The first movement suggests a funeral cortege, but quickly becomes a collage of deeply emotive moods of life in all its progress toward death. A mezzo sings the folk poem, “O, little red rose. Man lies in greatest need. Man lies in greatest pain. I would rather be in heaven. … For, I am from God and will return to God. The dear Lord will light my way to eternal life.” He underscores the final, great resurrection of all humanity with a beloved poem by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Auferstehn or “An Ode To The Resurrection”. The choir sings: You shall rise again, my dust, after a brief sleep. He who called you will grant you eternal life. You were sown to bloom again. The Lord of the harvest goes forth and gathers in the sheaves of us who died. [Yet] … O, believe, my soul – nothing is lost to you. What you longed for is all yours, what you loved, what you strove for is yours. O, believe, you were not born in vain. You have not lived and struggled for nothing. What has been created must pass away. What has passed away will rise again. Fear No More! … [But] Prepare [for your resurrection]! Prepare yourself to live! The soloists respond: I am freed from pain. All-conquering death – You are conquered! On wings I have won for myself, I shall soar aloft with burning love to the light which no eyes have seen. I shall die, so that I may live. My heart, you shall rise again in the twinkling of an eye, in an instant. What you have overcome will take you to God! When we take our brief, outdoor walks to escape the rooms we have been sent to, let us stop and smell the little roses, and remind ourselves we are from God and will return to God. Trust in the Lord. In his wisdom he cares for us, loves us. Rejoice, for he has risen, awaiting us in heaven after our own final, great resurrection. Rev Fr Christopher Tracey Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Parish Saugeen Shores, Ontario
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Father's Blog
Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
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