2 weeks Ago
Whether to walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness is the only decision we have to make: or so believed Martin Luther King. With so much global conflict and draining negativity this Easter, believing in anything other than getting to the end of another hard day is a reach. Despite the enormous technological advances we have made, none can lift a heavy heart.
That is a gift only humans have: our ability to use it, and its power when we do, must never be underestimated. There is good reason why they say the opposite of creativity is cynicism. The easiest way to snuff out a generous or positive impulse is to open the door to the draft of doubt or disbelief.
Long before Christianity, this time of growth and birth was treated with reverence. Today we presume to live in an “all-knowing” age, when science has unlocked so many secrets. But the mysteries of the human spirit are as impenetrable as ever.
Religion has been derided by many, because those who promoted it have been brought down by the weight of their own faults. Respecting a message while not automatically genuflecting to the medium is part of a “live and let live world”. Jesus would suffer torture and anguish, but his message was one of redemption, not retribution It was moving to see a frail 88-year-old Pope Francis visit Rome’s main prison.
As he recovers from a life-threatening bout of pneumonia, he chose to meet dozens of inmates. He has made the visit many times before to perform the annual Holy Thursday ritual of washing the feet of 12 people. It was a symbolic re-enactment of Christ’s gesture of washing the feet of the apostles before his crucifixion.
Even those without belief may recognise the potent symbolism of Easter. Death need not have the last word on our destiny. Jesus would suffer torture and anguish, but his message was one of redemption, not retribution.
While pain could harden hearts, the cross showed, with love, that it could also soften them. The choice was ours. The resurrection offered light out of darkness.
Loss and sorrow were in our world, but there could also be reuniting and joy. The devastation of having Jesus taken from them left the apostles feeling forsaken. Saint Augustine captured the meaning of it all when he wrote: “And he departed from our sight that we might return to our hearts and find him there.
For he left us, and behold, he is here.” Bible stories may well be regarded as simply that, but with people starving in Gaza and families being wiped out – or dozens being cut down as they left Palm Sunday services in Sumy, Ukraine – the idea of a prince of peace or a network of common humanity has its place. The words of a different Luther – Martin – looked beyond scripture: “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
” Whatever lifts your spirit, happy Easter..
