Easter Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons
Holy Pascha
This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.* (Acts 10:40-42)
I doubt if we ever really penetrate what the resurrection of Jesus means unless we ourselves have suffered the loss of a living being or something so important to us that it hurts to see it gone, and as that is something none of us can avoid, all of us should have a way to explore the resurrection. I'm certain that those who regularly worship in Notre Dame Cathedral will be able to express this in new ways, the shock of the suddenness of disaster of what the French call 'boulverser', upset , lives turning upside down, a drama of an open-living-worshipping Cathedral to a suddenly closed building, will give way to the joyful proclamation of another reality, of Christ alive always, not in buildings but in the living stones of his people!
I feel a bit bereft at the loss of access to worship in ND, I belong to that very international group who worship with the community, through Catholic TV in France (KTO), live streamed services each day. But I am one with the desire to see it be repaired. In itself this drama of ND de Paris is a great metaphor for what we celebrate this Easter Sunday, something familiar amongst us gets destroyed and suddenly we start to realize how it affects us, what it means. Of course there have been the negative comments of comparing other relief efforts that have needed help and money and the ease of with which ND received pledges, but comparisons are odious and never very helpful, and the snide comments about useless buildings miss the point of a much deeper and wider symbolism, but I suspect you all know that already.
This is nothing new, Christ's resurrection from the dead was met with all kinds of responses and it still does, I overheard a tour guide trying to explain that Jesus was divine and only pretended to die, and struggled to explain who Jesus actually was. Others dismiss it as a nice but rather primitive story, but you, like me, who have ever taken the trouble to enter into a dialogue with our loss and grief, will know your hearts that somewhere in the depths God is present, and that deep down we remain in communion of mind and heart with all those we have loved. They are not gone, nor are they forgotten, they live with us!
So we hear in our scriptures a rather salutary message, not everyone believed in that rising from the dead, as Acts 10 puts it, he wasn't visible to everybody only to some. In the account of the resurrection for John, this is what we find after Mary of Magdala has gone off to tell the story to the men, they returned swamped by lack of belief, lack of perception:
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead. (Jn 20:8,9)
That to me rings so true, the whole account of Jesus rising goes through all the weakest channels, women, young people, disciples whose track record was not very good-or who had simply left for other places, believing all was lost, suddenly find Christ their true compass is back with them! Yet this is not simply a re-enactment of what is past, for Christ is risen today, tonight, tomorrow night always. The resurrection makes no sense unless it captures your heart a bit, unless it shakes you into a different place where you see God at work, healing , loving, comforting, empowering beyond death.
Let us go to the tomb and there see the empty space and not worry, but then know in each other, in life, in the hearts of others that the void is not empty but filled with a love beyond all love, for Christ is truly risen in us! He is risen indeed!
Lectio
From the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet)
Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honour of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
I thought I'd share this Poem as an Easter meditation, it is being sent to Notre Dame as a gesture of care:
Notre Dame de Paris
April 15 2019
Robin Gibbons
On her pillar Notre Dame looks out,
Not totally focused on her son,
But on the blackened timbers and the metal shards,
The lead and molten
Bits of the bronze cloche once in the fleche
There she sees the shattered altar
With bent candle sticks
That surrounded her,
And only just before the fire
Incensed at the time of Her song,
Where the mighty are put down-
And the humble raised up !
She heard the intercessions of the faithful ones,
Gathered as they do each day
For Evening Prayer.
Then came the fire and the crashing rage
Of centuries of wood and metal
Like the incense they were an offering before the altar of the lord!
Homage to her in her own house,
Yes burnt offerings and then holy water from the Pompiers
Sprinkling the holocaust
Reminding us that after the deluge
A Covenant came
A rainbow of colours and a dove of peace!
There she stands, serene alone
At peace, having cared for her people.
Je vous salue, Marie pleine de grâce ;
The Lord was truly with us all,
Nobody was hurt except the Pompier-caring for your house
We are blessed, blessed by stone
And miracle of craft-from total devastation.
It's only a building, yes, it's only that,
But it's where we come to gaze and pray
And live a life with God
For a minute or two-
You gaze on this tangled mess, on Paris
And the world who cares about your house.
It can be cleaned-it will be restored.
But your question is:
Will we learn the lesson of this burning Holy Week-
That in the end-as an English poet wrote,
All that remains of us is Love?
That is your Son's gift, it is why you smile,
It is why you stand beloved lady, Notre Dame
Not only of Paris, but of our hearts.
Priez pour nous pauvres pécheurs,
Maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort.
Amen