Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - March 31, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
EASTER SUNDAY
"Oh Lord, You will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence.” (Psalm 16) This is typical of the Psalms we highlight during this Easter season, full of lines that we refer to the resurrection of Christ and our own. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor after tasting death for everyone. By his death he ‘freed those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life." (2:14, 15)
A note in The New American Bible tells us that the fear of death is “based on the false conception that death marks the end of a person's relations with God." Our very existence is due to God’s love (mediated through our parents) and death returns us to that love, to the God who loves us. We live in that hope, Henri Nouwen writes, and "Facing death with hope allows us to live life with generosity."
We share daily in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus in the many falls, disappointments, hurts and tragedies of life and in the ways these are surmounted. E.g., whenever we ditch our selfishness to be generous and loving; when a healing touch or word overcomes illness and discouragement; when forgiveness allows us to go beyond bitterness and self-pity; when faith promises what the misfortunes of this life cannot give.
In renewing our baptismal promises, we once again commit ourselves to sharing in the life and death of Jesus, trusting that sin is overcome by love, suffering by joy, hatred by forgiveness, death by life, catastrophe by a return to normalcy. "Oh Lord, I cried to you for help. Oh Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave. So my soul sings Psalms to you unceasingly. Oh Lord my God, I will thank you forever." (Psalm 30) Alleluia!
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
