PEACE BE WITH YOU
“Peace be with you,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel.
These days, peace to me feels elusive. It is present always, but it has been hard to quiet my mind and heart.
“Why are you troubled?” Jesus asks in today’s Gospel.
Jesus, my list of “why’s” are long. Shall we go over each one, line by line?
“Why do questions arise in your hearts?” He continues.
Because it is hard to see you in this world. Easter is here. But Jesus, what does that mean in times like these?
God has brought me across dark valleys in my life - divorce, miscarriage, spiritual abandonment. Each time, the Resurrection brought me to the other side, reminding me that there is no Risen Christ without first a Crucifixion. But what happens when the burden of the cross carries over into Easter? In today’s Gospel, the disciples were “startled and terrified.” I get that. I feel that.
The pandemic, for me, greatly magnified so many areas in my life that already needed tending to, care, and attention. That already needed to be advocated for, changed, and transformed - beyond just my own personal life but also within our community, society, and world. It has brought us to a standstill defining moment in time in our existence. Amongst its many effects: giving us all a chance to look at the roots of our own humanity - how we and the world we have created for ourselves treat us, value us, and in times of deep need - the ways in which it is able and unable to care for us.
I feel a kinship with the Spirit of the first disciples. Life as we knew it, is no longer. The more honestly we look into the future, the more we realize life is and will continue to be, completely different. We can not go back to the way things were, but we can go forward into an unknown that, while unfamiliar, is not a precedent as a people of faith. We have been here before, thousands of years ago. We have faced a new world before.
Easter is so closely associated with the joy of the Resurrection. This year for me, it is closely associated with courage in the face of fear and dark times, inspired by our spiritual ancestors.
Dear Jesus, as you made yourself known to your disciples back then, please reveal yourself to me in my daily life in these times. Please grant me the grace to see you and feel your presence. Please grant me the grace of peace. Amen.
Rae Visita