April 24, 2019
Easter - Life
Dear Friends,
We all want to live.
We do not want to die.
Within us is this undeniable desire – to live fully and to live on and on and on.
We have other deep desires – to love and be loved, to have meaning and purpose.
However, I think the strongest of our desires is to live.
I believe God has placed this within us.
In fact, isn’t this very desire God acting within us?
Isn’t this the spark of the divine within us?
Where could this have come from if not from the One who is life itself?
How could this be within us if it had not come from the One who is eternal?
The resurrection of Christ confirms that our desire is authentic, that it will not end in frustration, that physical death is not the end.
It confirms that we too will be transformed and raised up as Jesus was.
This is Easter.
Christ is risen. Alleluia!
“We Christians believe and know that Christ’s resurrection is the true hope of the world, the hope that does not disappoint. It is the power of the grain of wheat, the power of that love which humbles itself and gives itself to the very end, and thus truly renews the world.”
From Easter Sunday Homily, April 15, 2018 by Pope Francis (1936 –. Ordained to priesthood in 1969, consecrated bishop in 1992, named Cardinal in 2001, elected Pope in 2013).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 1, 2019
Easter - Now
Dear Friends,
Resurrected life is life with and in God.
In some way, we will be transformed.
We will rise to a new life, different from this life, definitely fuller.
In fact, we are promised that it will be the fullness of life.
That is, in a way, future, not yet.
I say “in a way’ because it already has begun.
The risen Christ lives now with us and we with Him.
We have already begun to live in God through the Spirit of the risen Christ.
This can transform our earthly journey and our human experience.
Things can look different and we can see them, all of life, in a new perspective.
We can experience our own life in a new way – far different from what it would be without the risen Christ.
And so, we can again say:
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
“The resurrection places Jesus on this side of the grave – here and now – in the midst of this life…On the morning of the resurrection, God put life in the present tense, not in the future. He gave us not a promise but a presence. Not so much the assurance that we shall live someday but that he is risen today…The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”
From The Substance of Faith and Other Cotton Patch Sermons by Clarence Jordan (1912–1969. New Testament Greek scholar, farmer, founder of Koinonia Farm in Georgia, instrumental in founding Habitat for Humanity).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations of last week, April 24, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 8, 2019
Easter - Believe
Dear Friends,
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29).
These are the words of the risen Christ to Thomas and all the apostles.
We hear these words every year in our liturgy, on the Sunday following Easter.
The reason for this is that Easter invites us to believe.
The risen Christ calls us to have faith.
I, as a person, choose to believe.
I choose to place my faith in the risen Christ.
My faith is first and foremost a relationship – a relationship with God as my heavenly parent or creator, with the risen Christ who is the Son of God, and with the Holy Spirit who is God with us and within us.
My life makes sense because of this faith.
My faith is the glue that holds it together.
I often think that my experience of life supports my choice to believe.
I experience a fullness, a coherence, a grounding and a purpose that I do not think is possible without faith.
So, yes, Easter calls us to faith in a way that no other religious celebration does.
“I believe that faith might be precisely that ability to trust the Big River of God’s providential love, which is to trust the visible embodiment (the Son), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself (the Father).”
From Daily Meditations by Father Richard Rohr (1943—. Catholic priest and religious, Franciscan friar, author of books and articles, Director of Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations of April 24 and May 1 and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 15, 2019
Easter - Hope
Dear Friends,
Easter calls us to hope.
I find that my faith in the risen Christ leads me, almost automatically, to hope.
For me, in one way, the hope of Easter is in the future and the other-worldly.
It points toward our own resurrection after the passage of physical death.
It is consoling and addresses our deep desire to live and to live with the One who is life itself.
In another way, the hope of Easter is in the present and the this-worldly.
It is the trust that God will always be with us –
in joys and sorrows, in accomplishments and losses, in health and sickness.
This hope moves us to keep on going when we are worn.
It moves us never to give up on bringing the gospel alive in our world and even in our Church.
Easter is about the trusting hope that God stays with us every step of the journey.
That hope, based on faith, leads us to the third central virtue of the Christian life: love.
I will reflect on this next week.
“This is what Christian hope is: having the certainty that I am walking toward something that ‘is’, not something that I hope may be…Christian hope is the expectation of something that has already been fulfilled and that will certainly be fulfilled for each one of us. Our resurrection too, and that of our departed loved ones, therefore, is not something that may or may not happen but is a certain reality, because it is rooted in the event of Christ’s Resurrection. Thus, to hope means to learn how to live in expectation. To learn how to live in expectation and find life.”
From On Hope by Pope Francis (1936 –. Ordained to priesthood in 1969, consecrated bishop in 1992, named Cardinal in 2001, elected Pope in 2013).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1 and 8, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 22, 2019
Easter - Love
Dear Friends,
My 1) faith in the risen Christ leads me to 2) hope, as I shared last week.
Among other blessings, this hope moves me never to give up on bringing the gospel alive in our world and in our Church.
Doing this calls into action the other foundational Christian virtue which is 3) love.
It is difficult to define this virtue.
Usually, I speak of the behaviors that express love instead of using the word itself.
With that in mind, the faith and hope of Easter lead us to be:
- Giving of our time and ourselves for another
- Giving up some of our own preferences to provide for others
- Comforting those who are suffering lack or loss
- Challenging those who need to look more fully at the way of the gospel
- Forgiving someone who has hurt me
- Seeking forgiveness from one whom I have offended
- Letting go of my attachments to so many things
- Hanging on to my faithfulness to persons and commitments.
These are just some of the expressions of love.
Our faith and hope in the risen Christ empower us to be alive with love in everyday life.
“Contemplatives of all traditions agree on one certain thing – the spiritual life is all about love…This love, divine in its nature and glimpsed only through the gift of divine light, is the greatest of all mysteries. It is the source, means, and end of all life, yet no one can explain it… love’s true nature remains forever beyond the grasp of all our faculties.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1, 8 and 15, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 29, 2019
Easter - Companions
Dear Friends,
It is difficult to do the journey of life alone.
We all enjoy companionship or friendship with others.
Most of us also seek the special love shared with a spouse or significant other.
This is all part of being human.
In addition to this, we also need companions for our faith.
Believing in Jesus and following his way is not easy to do alone.
We need faith companions when we question and seek, like the apostle Thomas.
They can help us to realize once again the glue for life that believing in the risen Christ can be for us.
We need faith companions as we grow and mature.
They can help us to go beyond the faith of our childhood or earlier life and come to a richer relationship with God that is appropriate for our adult years.
And we need faith companions in a world where many choose not to believe.
They can help us to feel assured of our choice to live a spiritual life and to center our lives on God.
Yes, companions are important – a great gift from God!
“To walk alone is possible, but the good walker knows that the great trip is life and it requires companions.”
By Archbishop Dom Helder Camara (1909-1999. Ordained to priesthood in 1931. Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil, 1964-1985).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1, 8, 15 and 22 and for next week.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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