Breaking thru the darkness

“Behold, I make all things new.”

These words are our diocesan planning theme, but they are chosen not just as a

slogan for that purpose. They are a solemn promise from the risen Savior for every

purpose in our Christian lives. Jesus does not speak these words in the four Gospels,

during his earthly ministry. They are spoken after the Resurrection, and recorded in the Book of Revelation. They are words of glory, words of risen life, words of eternity.

Yet we need to hear those words while we are still in time, while we still know the Cross, not just as a memory but as a share in the Lord’s Passion in our own lives, whatever form it takes.

This week, we celebrate the most sacred time of the Church’s

year, and of all human history: the Passion, death, and

resurrection of Jesus. In the Church’s liturgy, we have not

merely a remembrance of great events of the past. We are

made present to them. They retain all of these

transformative and redeeming power in time, for they are

actions of the Eternal God who is not bound by time or

place.

The liturgies focus a great deal on the Cross, of course. We

hear the narrative of the Passion twice, on Palm Sunday and

Good Friday. Holy Thursday too is intrinsically linked to the

sacrifice of the Cross, which is encompassed in the gift of the

Eucharist, the offering of the Body and Blood of Jesus for

our salvation.

Easter can seem almost like an afterthought to me some

times. That is understandable in a way: we know suffering,

loss, and death all too well in our lives; but the life of

Resurrection and perfect joy remains mysterious and elusive

from our daily experience.

Yet all of Holy Week culminates in Easter. The suffering and

death of Jesus, dramatic as they are, would a tragic ending

of a sad account if they were truly the end. But they are

not. They are only the beginning.

I read a quote last week from a monk of the 16th century,

who said: “God has left us from Paradise three things: the

stars, the flowers, and the eyes of a child.” One of the

nuptial blessings speaks of married love as a “blessing

not forfeited by original sin or washed away by the

flood.” In his Theology of the Body, St. John Paul II often

spoke about Jesus’ words about “the beginning” – it is not

that we can turn back time to return to the Garden of

Eden, as Genesis describes it, but we can return to the

values of the beginning, already here and now living that

life of joy and freedom we hope to live with God in

eternity.

Even this week, look for those signs of Paradise that still

break through the darkness and sadness of our world.

Look up at the stars; ponder the beauty of a flower; look

into the eyes of a child. Share the love of your family

and friendships, even when we help one another bear the

Cross as Simon of Cyrene did.

The Resurrection is as real as the Cross. Glory is promised

to the faithful as surely as we know suffering. As we walk

with Jesus through the Passion, we reaffirm our faith that

hope does not disappoint. From the place prepared for

each us in God’s eternal joy, we hear Jesus assure us:

“Behold, I make all things new.”