Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - April 1, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
Originally scheduled for this date was a reflection centered around Ecclesiastes. The opening line would have been: “What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9). How could any Christian writer allow that to stand? How incongruous during this season!
We are celebrating something that is absolutely “new under the sun”! It is clear from the reaction of the disciples, including Mary Magdalene, that they were not ready for anything this new: that Jesus would rise!
Mr. ‘same old, same old’ Ecclesiastes had no belief in resurrection. His advice: get on with your work, eat, drink and “enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life. . . “ (Eccl 9:9).
But the resurrection of Jesus tells us Jesus has conquered death for all of us. There is something new! All our efforts to aid the unemployed, to comfort the suffering, the poor and disadvantaged, the victims of war are enabled by the resurrection.
Believing, trusting in our own resurrection does not devalue the present. Rather, trusting in resurrection may take away our fear of death, thereby freeing us to be generous and loving – now, once again as we become free to touch and hold those dear to us.
Another way of putting it is Saint Paul in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Or, take Lamentations from the Old Testament/the Hebrew Scriptures: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” Lamentations 3:22.
Or, hear Mr. Rogers: “At many times throughout their lives, children will feel the world has turned Topsy-Turvy. . .(What) will help them feel secure. . . (is) knowing that love can hold many feelings, including sadness, and that they can count on the people they love to be with them until the world turns right side up again.”
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!”
