Easter People

The Holy Week of Easter follows Lent, an apparent Dark Night of the Soul. Hope springs ever so faithfully from darkness.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

New life gushes forth with screams and shouts of pain and joy from the darkness of the womb.

Newness of life bursts forth from the dark and silent earth.

Buds of growth appear on the barren, winter trees. Outstretched branches appear to be lifted in prayer… and praise… and gratitude.  Sap flows like tears, weeping, weeping, weeping… invigorating them with vernal life for these are tears of joy that fall to the ground in symbolic baptism.

God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
And there it was.

Morning silence now broken with bird song heralds the dawn as a welcome relief from the long, dark night of the soul.

Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship.

There is newness to our worship now, a freshness. The darkness of Good Friday has been pierced by the blinding light of an empty tomb.

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”
― Pope John Paul II

Even so, Amen!

Simply yours,

Tamara