Easter Meditation

(Never too late...there are 8 days of Easter.  Happy Easter, dear Reader!)

Christianity is true because Jesus is risen.

So that he wouldn’t be taken from that pitiful tomb a large stone blocked the entrance and in front of that there was a guard. But the story took another direction, through which he left and opened up eternal life, even in death.

The Church exhorts, on the mouth of the empty tomb: heads of State, Kings and magistrates to understand; that which is difficult to understand; so much so that the same mistakes are endlessly repeated: they come from one dictatorship and prepare another; they take note of the second war and plan a third; they take care of people in disasters by adding to their mourning.

Through the countryside of the resurrection pass the delicate figures of women. In these love has overcome fear: and when the apostles had gone to ground hiding, the women came out and looked for the one who is Love: they discovered that He had risen. They find the confirmation of the Gospel: that the religion of Jesus is a duel against death, a victory over it; in fact its substance is love, which knows no limits. Beauty ends, honor terminates, justice stops at the margins of law, but love knows no barrier, it goes beyond the furrows of evil, the background of death. With the sacraments we can assure a continual resurrection from evil, which is the substance of death: and the sacraments, the substance of life, are produced by love, as redemption and as the Church.

Christians are not allowed to despair; they are not allowed to lose heart when faced with death. Their house can collapse, their riches scatter: they will pick themselves up, and take up the fight again: the fight against evil. Christianity lasts whilst it remains firm in the belief of the resurrection.

The resurrection of Christ, our Leader, draws us into and makes us participants in it through his life, he obliges us to never despair. He gives us the secret to lift ourselves up in every fall. He gives us the arms for the fight and the strength to conquer death. The spirit, if it is rooted in Christ, prevails. Ours is a religion of life; the only one in which death has been victoriously, and if we want it, definitively banished.

Today, we are on earth, but linking ourselves to the Christian spirit, people rise again. So, like Mary, who took her son freed from the nails of the cross and held him in her arms, the Church holds our crucified humanity in its womb and prepares it for the resurrection.

The resurrection of Christ must be the reason for us to be reborn in our faith, hope and charity: victorious in our actions against the tendency of death, each one with their neighbor reborn in a unity of affection, every nation reborn, in agreement of actions, with other nations.

St Augustine, in a talk about Easter and the process of our resurrection, couldn’t find better words than to quote the apostle of love who says: – We have passed from death to life because we love our brothers.

And therefore: let us love one another, to help each other to live. In this way we will rise again.

Igino Giordani, published in Le Feste, Turin, 1954

Good Friday Meditation

Jesus Forsaken:   Jesus is the image of the one who has been deceived, betrayed; he seems a failure. He is fearful, timid, disoriented. Jesus Forsaken is darkness, melancholy, contrast. He is the image of all that is strange, indefinable, that has something monstrous about it. Because he is God crying out for help! He is the lonely person, the derelict... He seems useless, an outcast, in shock...... Consequently, we can recognize him in every suffering brother or sister. When we approach those who resemble him, we can speak to them of Jesus Forsaken. To those who recognize that they are similar to him, and are willing to share his fate, he becomes: for the mute, words; for the doubtful, the answer; for the blind, light; for the deaf, voice; for the weary, rest; for the desperate, hope; for the separated, unity; for the restless, peace. With him the person is transformed and the non-meaning of suffering acquires meaning. He had cried out a "why"* to which no one replied, so that we would have the answer to every question. The problem of human life is suffering. Whatever form it may take, however terrible it may be, we know that Jesus has taken it on himself and--as if by a divine alchemy--he transforms suffering into love. -- Chiara Lubich

 

*"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Facebook is my new TV

When I was a kid, I loved watching TV.  Cartoons, sitcoms, variety shows (oops, that reveals my age), even the occasional Saturday afternoon horror movie.  I guess part of that stemmed from being an only child, having busy parents, and enjoying being entertained.  The problem: TV was often mesmerizing, and I'd either procrastinate--about doing chores or homework--or do them at a snail's pace, not to mention neglecting to practice the piano.  This infuriated my mom.  "That damn television is the ruination of everything," she would say.  If she needed to discipline me, most often she revoked my TV privileges.  I hated that.  Even though I was an avid reader, enjoyed jigsaw puzzles, Legos and other toys and pastimes, being unable to watch TV really stung.

It's decades later and...only the venue has changed.  I dislike TV now and watch very few programs.  However, I spend a lot of time on the computer, on e-mail, and on Facebook especially.  For Lent, one thing that I gave up was Facebook games, and I've done pretty well with that, by the grace of God.  But, I still find myself logging in several times a day, reading posts, seeing if anyone has commented on my posts, and so on.  I realize that the latter is a selfish, ego thing.  I like attention, but how much attention do I really need?  What am I paying attention to?  Are those things really worthwhile?  Do they inspire me, enlighten me, challenge me?  I bet you can guess the answer.

I want to love and serve God and others, beginning with my family first and then reaching out as widely as I can...which can happen especially through my writing.  Have I been writing on a regular basis?  I bet you can guess that answer, too.  So, here's my idea, and my challenge.  After I entrust my entire self and my entire life to God each morning, I need to use the computer for work, the work of Truth and Beauty.  When I've done the work and earned some relaxation, I can visit Facebook for a while.  I'll set the oven timer, maybe for 20 minutes.  Why that timer?  Because it'll just keep beeping, and beeping, and beeping until I get up and turn it off.  But first, I'll log out of Facebook.

Why do it this way?  Why not just use a computer that isn't hooked up to the internet?  That's easier, of course.  But, it doesn't strengthen my will or my ability to resist temptation at all.  Maybe I'll fail a lot, but if I keep trying each time I fail, I might improve, little by little...and do the will of God more and more.

Please pray for me, dear reader.  I'll pray for you, too, and I'll let you know how I'm doing with my new "program."

"My food...is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do."  (John 4:34) 

Belated Thank-You

Many thanks to the Friends of the J.B. Nickells Memorial Library and the Central Texas Oil Patch Museum in Luling, TX for a great "Meet the Author" event.  I met some terrific authors and shared information with them; I also met some wonderful librarians and teachers interested in having me visit their school.  A very worthwhile trip...

Writing Inspiration

From one of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury:  "Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way."

Let's step out of the way, fellow writers, and put something into a document today.

Meditation for the day

(Thank you, Chiara.)

When the soul doesn’t sing, then something is occupying it and this something should immediately be given to God. The suffering could be brought on by external things (and these are more easily overcome by souls who want to love Love); the sufferings could be within us (scruples, doubts, melancholy, temptations, emptiness, homesickness). They all need to be given to God. The quicker the giving, the sooner love descends into our hearts. But be careful: a giver cannot go on... keeping for her a gift that’s been given away.

If you feel something, whatever it may be, which doesn’t allow your soul to be at peace then you need to give it over to him with an effort that is equal to the size of the gift. If you keep something for yourself, even just the thought of the gift, then you appropriate a treasure for yourself (a tiny treasure) that no longer belongs to you.

Only into the extreme poverty of a soul which loses itself for love does the Lord God enter triumphant with the fullness of joy. That is why the Pascha was a “passing over” for all of us to a life of never-ending joy as we live the Ideal in its fullness.

Now, do you want the Eternal Model? Jesus, Crucified and Forsaken. His soul, which is the soul of the God-Man, filled with the greatest suffering ever known in heaven and on earth, the suffering of a God abandoned by God, never doubted for a moment about offering it to his Father: “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum (Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit).” Let it always be the same for us.

And do you know what Jesus will say in answer to your offer? Omnia mea tua sunt (All that is mine is yours). Everything he’ll give you, the entire fullness of his joy. May he give you everything.

—Chiara Lubich (entered into heaven March 14, 2008)

Thought for the day

Not to just think about, but to live:

The strongest person is one who is dependent on God. The greatest is the one who is humble before God and the tallest is the one who kneels and bends before God.

 Nishan Panwar