Long ago, a Persia king wanted to know about the hardships of his people. Often he went to the homes of the poor in disguise. One day he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food and spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left.
Later he visited the poor man and disclosed his identity. Instead of asking for some gift or favour, the poor man said, "You left your palace to visit me in this dreary place. You ate the coarse food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!"An American serviceman returning from Viet Nam was asked how the war had affected him. "The thought that the end of my life is a hole six feet deep and six feet long casts a dark shadow on everything I do now."
This Easter I fine myself focusing on Christmas and Easter themes. The birth of Christ at Christmas is the start of the light that dispels death's shadow. Everyone loves the approachable Baby Jesus of Christmas, but the meeting with a mature Christ on Good Friday gives us pause.
The Easter experience gives us a lift during the darkest moments of our lives. Let me share an example: when my Father-in-law was born to eternal life, I remember leaving the parking lot at University Hospital, Saskatoon, singing "I was full of joy, alleluia, when I set out for the house of the Lord." I sang through my tears.
I have since then felt that same intense mixture of joy and sorrow with the passing of siblings and close brothers and sisters in Christ. The sorrow of death is pushed back by the alleluias of new and eternal life! Faith helps us realize that.
Easter's joy is the full realization of the infant Christmas gift. God came to visit us in the darkest corners of our existence. He did not come to a palace; he came to the poor in a stable.
The dark, gloomy hole of the grave fades into the glory of new life in the risen Christ. Our loved ones are not in that graveyard. They have gone on to the place prepared for them by their loving Savior.
And the story is not limited to Christmas and Easter Seasons. The longer season of Ordinary Time enable us to enjoy that profound joy and love of Christ in our Sunday services and daily prayer encounters.
Unless we are moved to tears in church on Sunday morning, I feel, we are missing the event we are celebrating there. Jesus comes to dwell in us, to breath in us, to speak in us, to move in us. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Something in the hymn, something in the blessed encounter, some realization will move us to know how we are the beloved of the Father. Perhaps it is just the realization that we join all our loved ones in heaven in a joyful celebration praising God and being in His love.
Just as the baby in the manger was wrapped in the death shroud of swaddling clothes, we all move toward the Easter event in our lives. Easter is singing our alleluias in gratitude to the one who has redeemed us in spite of the valley of tears we inhabit.
God's blessing be upon you this Easter!
