As we journey through the mysteries of Holy Week, ritualizing the greatest model of service in the washing of feet, journeying with the Suffering Servant in his steps to Golgotha, waiting in the middle time until the new fire is lit and the Gloria peals out and the Eucharist gathers us once more around the festive table. That indeed is our liturgical ebb and flow of time. And our hearts, where might they be?
Perhaps we find ourselves aching over the horrors of the world situation, where brutality is as real as the crucifixion of Jesus. Perhaps we are holding in our hearts the care of the refugee whose journey has been a trek through desert land, hilly crag, and flooded plain, whose feet are bruised and aching with the struggle to arrive in a place of freedom. Perhaps we are empty in the face of absence of loved ones, stunned by the lure of radicalization of our youth. Perhaps our hearts are heavy with the strain of all that haunts our hope for world peace.
And then the new fire is lit and the Gloria peals out and the Eucharist is broken and shared. Small fragments – fruit of the earth, genteel sips of the fruit of the vine. We taste and hold dearly in our hearts the mystery of Presence, of Divine Goodness, of Hope for the future, where death and pain no longer hold court. This is what sustains us – that death is no more; that Christ-life is vibrant in the community assembled; that the reign of God enables us all to live as sisters and brothers.
It is difficult to hold out that hope in the midst of our fragile world, yet we sing “When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain, Your touch can call us back to life again, Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been; Love is come again like wheat arising green.” (CBW 403) This beautiful Easter text captures the middle time of buried seed in the dark earth groaning to sprout its new life. The text then leaps in verse 3 to the brilliance of the Easter Rising. The hymn weds a traditional Christmas tune, Noel Nouvelet, with this poignant Easter text, proclaiming in melody, the passionate in-breaking of God into our earthly reality, and in text, the passionate love of Christ drawing us into the heart of God. In this single hymn Christmas and Easter are united and together call us deeper into the mystery of God’s reconciling love!
This is where we find the courage to live through these times. We have not been left alone adrift on this ever evolving planet Earth. The Christ, Love made visible draws us into the heart of God, teaching us to be about creating Easter, about living fully God’s mercy, compassion and inclusive love. It is a tall order, but it is the covenant that God makes with us and us with God. In the midst of turmoil and chaos, we are called to stand open to the next possibility that unfolds the revelation of the Risen Christ to the world.
May this Eastertide provide graced awareness to each of you – an awareness that urges us to hold strong the promise that “All shall be one.”
Loretta Manzara, CSJ
