bukas palad: April 2011

Apr

24

Easter: All it took was a minute...

What if it took a minute of assurance to free one from death-like fear? Of peace to soothe the unbearable pain of death? Of clarity to pierce the numbing confusion of loss?

These could have possibly been some of the experiences felt that first Easter morning. They might have been for the women who went to the tomb: hearing the Angel proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection, it took them a few moments to realize this truth, and fearful yet overjoyed, they ran to announce this to the apostles. These could also have been Mary Magdalene’s: she admonished the gardener for Jesus’ missing body but upon hearing him call her name paused only to sense his reverberating voice within her to be that of the Risen Jesus greeting her. And, truly, they must have been John’s experiences as he ran with Peter to the empty tomb, looked in, saw Jesus’ burial shroud folded up, and, taking a deep breath, believed.

And what if all it takes this Easter is just a minute for you and me--amidst our Easter liturgies and celebrations-- to see anew what is the unimaginable? To recognize hope alive when all is despaired? To believe again when having faith seems so hard to do?

Perhaps, then, by pausing a bit, closing our eyes and keeping silent, we can savour…really, really savour...the joyful truth of what we celebrate this Easter Day: Christ has risen; He has redeemed us with God's favor!

A Blessed Easter to one and all!

artwork: empty tomb by barbara adams

Posted 24th April 2011 by adrian danker

Labels: Easter

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Apr

17

Lent: And they spread their cloaks...

Many a Palm Sunday Mass would have began this weekend with the Procession of Palms, which included a reading of Luke 19.28-40. This passage describes the crowds jubilantly welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem by waving palms and taking off their cloaks to spread them on the road before the donkey Jesus rode on to enter the city.

For the poor among the crowd, a cloak would have been an expensive item to own. If they had one, it would probably have been a prized possession, clothing and protecting them in their poverty and vulnerability. But their cloaks are expensive in another sense: it gave them wellbeing and dignity.

The action of taking off their own cloaks and spreading them on the ground to welcome Jesus speaks to me of their generosity to give of their best--not just their garments but their whole selves to one who is coming to give them his most prized possession--his life so that they might have life in God. And so, I ask myself, “What about me? What cloak have I offered this Lent to welcome Jesus who saved us once, and still saves all, from sin and death?”

Looking back on Lent, I’ve to confess that as much as I have tried my best to fast, pray and share, I have held back a part of myself, cocooning it in the safe, secure and comfortable folds of my cloak. Indeed, I could have done better. Perhaps, it is time to unfasten my cloak and to lay it down totally, like the poor challenge me to do today. Would this be your Lenten experience too?

This coming Holy Week climaxes in our celebrations of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The beauty of the Paschal Mystery we will celebrate is its affirmation that God still gives the very the best of Godself--without cost or concern and in spite of our Lenten shortcomings--to us. And so, we can take heart that the invitation Lent began with is still God’s gift for us to rejoice in: to open ourselves and enter more deeply into the selfless love of God-who-is-for-us, loving us into fullness of life as only God-who-is-with-us on the Cross can.

Posted 17th April 2011 by adrian danker

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Apr

16

Of Gods and Men

Xavier Beauvois' film, Of Gods and Men, tells the story of eight French Christian monks who live in harmony with their Muslim neighbours in a monastery perched in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990s. When Islamic fundamentalists begin to terrorize the region, the monks are faced with the question of departing to safety or staying with the people they care for only to face possible death. This film is loosely based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, from 1993 until their kidnapping and death in 1996.
As I watched it this evening, these cherished words from Karl Rahner's You are the Silence came to mind:

Then you will be the last word, the only word that lasts, never to be forgotten. Then, when in death all things will fall silent, and I will have finished learning and suffering, there will begin that great silence, where you alone will speak, the Word from eternity to eternity. Then will cease all human speaking; to be and to know, to know and to experience, will have become the same thing. I will know as I am known, I will sense what you have said to me: yourself. No human word, no idea, will stand between you and me. You yourself will be the only word of jubilation, of love and of life, which fills every corner of my soul.

Posted 16th April 2011 by adrian danker

Labels: From the bookshelf

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bukas palad

with open hands, we give what we have first received. and with open hands, we receive what we will divest, once again. this is blessing itself: the giving and receiving of life and love, the sharing of faith and God.

Easter: All it took was a minute...

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Lent: And they spread their cloaks...

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Of Gods and Men

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