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Alleluia, calm fears, Christ, Easter, insights, normal, path of rejoicing, psalm 118, rainy days, reiterate message, resolve, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
After all the trumpets and Alleluia! of the past 24 hours most people are re-setting their inner scheduling devices that will bring their minds back to “normal.” It’s rather ironic that today is gloomy, dark and rainy – and in our part of the world really cold. Nevertheless, the verse before the gospel for today proclaims (with gusto, I imagine): This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it! (Psalm 118:24) I take that as a reminder that staying with a “mountaintop experience” where we have come to deep insights or great resolve about bettering our spiritual lives, i.e. putting the Easter message into practice, is unrealistic. Rather what I need to remember is that rainy days are days that the Lord has made and we need them as well as the sunny ones to keep us awake.
The seasonal cycle in Church life is instructive as well. We have 50 days of the Easter season to delve the post-resurrection narratives where wonderful stories of Christ deepen the reality of how we are to live. Jesus has passed the torch to his disciples but stays around during their first days in the new reality to calm their fears, to reiterate his message of love and unity and to grow their confidence in their ability to follow no matter the consequences. So my plan is to take a deep breath, repeat the psalmist’s message to myself and grab my raincoat for my continued walk on the path of rejoicing.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 