We don’t often give much thought or pay much attention to how important foundations are in life. But the truth is that in everything that we hold as true and important, if their foundations or what they are built on is unstable or shaky, they literally have nothing much to stand on.
Science, which so much of what this world holds as the holy grail of reality, is founded on data and empirical evidence. And this is part of the reason why when any leader of a country verbalizes a hope that is non data-based or reason-based, but just because “it’s a good idea”, these statements become incredulous and make the audience have to control the proverbial eye-roll. It can cause the emergence of a strong sense of disbelief or skepticism. Those words of hope are, by and large, lacking in foundation, and are therefore baseless.
In his ministry, Jesus made it clear that it is the wise that build on rock and not on sand. Apart from this being true and applicable to the things that matter and make sense in this world and in this life, it is just as, if not even more applicable to the things that matter in the life that lasts after this one is over. It is imperative that our ‘rock solid’ foundation be strong, impervious and unshakeable such that it holds true and gives stability for the life eternal as well.
Of course, I am referring to the metaphysical life, which is the life that exists and hold true beyond (meta) what is tangible, empirical and indeed, physical (thus the term metaphysics).
When our eyes are cast predominantly on that truth, and our foundation for that is of prime focus most of the time as we live this life that we have now, it is what gives us the greatest stability and peace, especially when we see just how feeble and precarious the things of this world can be. Case in point – the painful truth of what the coronavirus pandemic that has afflicted so many right now is teaching us and revealing to us about our values and ourselves.
It is at times like these that our eyes begin to truly see (or seek) what is most important, and if what we have so far been living for and found meaning in have any vestige of the infinite about them. And if they do not, then we need to make that necessary paradigm shift to base our lives on what lasts beyond this life.
No, I haven’t gone all philosophical or abstract in this blog, though it may seem as if I am reflecting on sand more than on rock. I am in fact laying down the premise of the heart of this Easter blog, which is that Easter and its truth is at the very foundation and core of the Christian’s belief, existence and reason of life, or raison d’etre.
It is precisely because our religion has such an extraordinary promise that leaves all other earthly joys as it were, wanting, that we who are baptized in Christ have such tremendous abilities to go through whatever life can throw at us, be it in the form of failures, rejection, betrayals, being wrongly judged, illnesses that threaten our very lives, including the present coronavirus plague and all that comes with it, and yes, even the last bastion for all human beings, death itself.
But it is when we don’t spend much of our conscious moments appreciating how tremendous this power is, and that it also conveys to us just how loved we are by God, that we easily become despondent, dismayed and perhaps even possibly giving in to despair when things aren’t all that rosy for us.
This period of being shunted in our homes for a prolonged length of time can be challenging for many, but it will be largely wasted on us if we don’t take this opportunity to wake us up to the fact that perhaps all that we have put so much effort and time and resources in are really only truly good for this life only, and good for little else in the next.
But this time of distancing from others can be used wisely and it can teach us valuable lessons, only if we allow it to. Let us learn from the examples of those who had benefitted greatly from their time of being distanced in life, either by afflictions or by external factors beyond their control. Think of how the world has benefitted so much from Beethoven’s musical genius if not for his having experienced a progressive loss of hearing. John of the Cross wrote his most poignant and fine poetry when he was wrongly incarcerated for nine long months. He wasn’t alone but was very much in touch with the Holy Spirit.
Easter’s joy and Easter’s great hope is foundational for us only if we give it the space to bloom and flower in our hearts. But it will only be a passing event or a mere good thought if we don’t let the significance of the empty tomb truly fill our aching and empty hearts. I’m afraid that this may be all Easter is for most Catholics – a passing event, or just a mere good thought.
Passing events do not sustain us when the chips are down in life. Mere good thoughts aren’t even a weak panacea when we are in some sort of pain. We actually weaken the immense power that Easter’s joy and promise has for us if we only view them as a historical event that was good only for that third day after Good Friday when the tomb was found empty, or only see it as a nice good thought to tide us through from Easter Sunday and live Easter Monday onwards in a ho-hum way.
At this time of being forcibly told to keep away from our friends and for some, even our family members, and to only go out for things that are truly essential, we need to reclaim the great power of Easter to see that nothing is over till it is truly over. But even then, when this life is truly over, the Christian’s life isn’t. It is just beginning anew.
In the gospel texts where Jesus appears to his disciples, one message is a constant – go and meet again in Galilee. That’s where everything began. That’s where Jesus started his mission, and brought hope to the hopeless and life to the lifeless, and love to the unloved. That's when enchantment began. Let God enchant us anew, and let the weeks that follow Easter Sunday find us living lives of great hope and promise as we claim the true power of our faith in the resurrection that await all of us, and in our prayer time, with much effort, activate our desire to go back to our Galilee moments and meet Jesus there once again.
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