I miss you. I miss how we were once together. I miss the life we shared. I feel so lonely, so bereft inside. I need to go out for a little while, alone. Perhaps I could go to where they laid you. So it was that “on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.” Together with other disciples, she “saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head.” She did not see the body. Now what?
We have been for so long buried under isolation and oppression. It is brought on and worsened by the rulers. We seemed a shorter time free in the humanity of Christ. We have endured for so many years the poverty and persecution wrought by the rulers. We cherished for too short a time the encouragement of The Peacemaker. To watch suffering, to watch dying is more wrenching than we had even imagined. Our lives feel fleeting; freedom from pain seems elusive. We have been stumbling through these days. We are bewildered, alone, and with such little energy. There was energy enough only to perfume the body. But now the body is not here. Now what? Death was never the end of it, was it? Only the drapings of death are left behind. What does this mean? Death is real. So too the pain preceding it. I cannot pretend otherwise. But I cannot dwell on death. I cannot dwell on any lifeless body; with its stench and sorrow. The only body here is my own and mine is a living body. It does now and will continue to pulse as the Body of Christ, as the Anointed. It does now and will continue to burst with the Spirit of life. We are all of us forever vibrant. Weeks, perhaps even months of oppression will continue. We will no longer know of normal. But we will know of love, vibrant love. We will keep making love normal. Others may tell us our Love is no more, but our Love is so much more.
“Where are you, my beloved? Are you in that little Paradise, watering the flowers who look upon you… Or amongst the books, seeking human knowledge, while you are replete with heavenly wisdom? Oh companion of my soul, where are you? Are you Praying? Or calling Nature in the Field, haven of your dreams? Are you in the huts of the poor, consoling the Broken-hearted with the sweetness of your soul, and Filling their hands with your bounty? You are God’s spirit everywhere; You are stronger than the ages.” (A Lovers Call XXVII – Kahlil Gibran)
Prayer: Spirit of Life, you are our Beloved.
Question: Who or what energizes my life to rise again after being buried?
April 12, 2020 Gospel John 20:1-9 Easter