Eastertide Season. We give thanks to our faith sharers over the Easter season: Donna, Derek, Becky, and Charlie.
Here are some final thoughts to take us into Pentecost:
Megan McKenna, the prolific and profound Catholic writer, saw resurrection as a verb, a spiritual practice in every day life when she was leading a Bible study. She shares the following vignette in her book Not Counting Women and Children: Neglected Stories from the Bible.
"Once in a parish mission when I was studying this scripture (Luke 7: 11-17) with a large group, someone called out harshly, 'Have you ever brought someone back from the dead?' I had been saying that life happens when we are interrupted, and that some of the most powerful acts of resurrection happen to the least likely people; that we are the people of resurrection and hope, called to live passionately and compassionately with others, to defy death, to forgive, and to bring others back
into the community, to do something that is life-giving, that fights death and needless suffering. And then this challenge from the back of the church.
"My response was 'Yes.' I went on to say, 'Every time I bring hope into a situation, every time I bring joy that shatters despair, every time I forgive others and give them back dignity and the possibility of a future with me and others in the community, every time I listen to others and affirm them and their life, every time I speak the truth in public, every time I confront injustice — yes — I bring people back from the dead.' "
Here are a few suggestions for how you might continue to live the resurrection in your daily life:
- Give your full attention to whatever you are doing, and you'll recognize the constant renewal of life all around you.
- Walk the path of beauty and notice the spiritual radiance in people, places, and growing things — more signs of rebirth.
- Whenever you with compassion open your heart, mind, and soul to the pain of the world, you help bring suffering beings back into the land of the living.
- When you cultivate the art of making connections, the walls of separation come crashing down and new life can spring up out of the rubble.
- When you regularly pray for others as part of your devotional activities, you are practicing resurrection.
- Every time you forgive someone, another resurrection is in the making.
- When you can welcome guests and alien ideas with graciousness, you are participating in a new world of hospitality.