HOPE – The Gift of Easter

    The journey of Jesus from Jerusalem to Calvary is a journey of hope. The days of Paschal Triduum are filled with a movement from sadness to joy, pain to healing, abandonment to reconciliation, fear to faith, darkness to light, death to life and despair to hope. All these experiences of intense emotions were felt by Jesus, Mother Mary, disciples and others who loved Jesus and believed in Him. Jesus entered through the heart of sadness, abandonment, fear, darkness, death, and despair to reach new life and hope. Thus, He became for each one of us the source and model for moving toward a new life and hope. 

Most probably, you too might have gone through the experiences of pain and despair in your own life. Pain and despair can come to you in many ways – Someone might have hurt or rejected you, or you might have lost a dear one and so on. Now, pick one of such events and reflect on how Jesus can inspire you to move toward a new hope. Through the Paschal Mystery, Jesus has shown by his own example that death and despair are not final. If we unite ourselves with Him, we too can move every day from death to life and despair to hope. 

Wish you a Happy Easter filled with Hope!

Brokenness of Jesus a Means of Healing

            

             Jesus experienced an intense form of brokenness when he was rejected by his own, including his most intimate followers, and crucified at Calvary. We hear this most poignantly in his cry of isolation to his Abba, Father: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27: 46). Dr. James Adams beautifully writes about the brokenness of Jesus on the cross. In his booklet, Cross Examinations: Stations Of The Cross, one can hear the voice of Jesus saying, 

I was dying – and it hurt. I was alone, so utterly alone. I had never felt that way before. I was sinking to hell and wondered if I would come back. I said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … Some of you may think I cried “My God, why have you forsaken me?” only because I was reciting a psalm or fulfilling a Scripture passage. But I said that because I felt it profoundly. I was lost. I was despairing, even if I didn’t stay in despair for very long. This cry was not pretending. How could it be? Could I have lived and died as a man without experiencing despair and doubt? 

Adams in the above reflection states that even Jesus in his experience of abandonment on the Cross felt extreme brokenness. If Jesus experienced such intense form of brokenness then can we escape from brokenness? Truly Jesus experienced human brokenness, as the letter to Hebrews also says that he became like us in all ways, except sin. The brokenness of Jesus was not the result of his sins, as can be the case with our brokenness. His brokenness does not bring brokenness to others, but instead brings healing. Can we also allow God to use our brokenness as a means of blessing and healing for others and ourselves? 

John Baptist OFM Cap. | Clinical Counselor & Psychospiritual Resource Person | Pennsylvania, USA

Notes

John Baptist, 2021, Brokenness to Wholeness, Delhi: Media House. 

 

Befriending Suffering

 

John Baptist

Clinical Counselor

 

Pain and suffering are often an essential part of the fabric of our lives. When we view suffering as a curse, we end up thinking of ourselves as rejectable, unlovable, and worthless. When we call ourselves cursed by God or others then we have already assumed that we are not loved. Our experiences of suffering as a curse and therefore as a sign of our worthlessness can lead us into the dark pit of depression, sometimes culminating in suicide. We cannot avoid suffering but we can learn how best to respond to it. There is a better way of understanding our suffering than as a curse: we can befriend suffering and view it in the light of blessing (Henry Nouwen). 

Even a small experience of suffering viewed as a curse can lead to feelings of worthlessness and meaninglessness in life. Whereas, understanding suffering in the light of blessing can lead to feelings of joy and meaningfulness in life. In the light of blessing, even heavy burdens become light and intensely painful experiences become a bedrock for joy and meaning in life.   

           Understanding suffering in the light of blessing does not really explain the why of suffering, instead it becomes a means of deeper union with God and others. In this new understanding, not only joy but also sorrow becomes a path that leads to God. Henry Nouwen invites us to embrace our suffering. He says, “Befriending it [suffering] and putting it under blessing do not necessarily make our pain less painful…. And still, embracing it and bringing it into the light of the One who calls us the Beloved can make our brokenness shine like a diamond”. Suffering viewed in the light of blessing can indeed transform our dull and rough life so that we shine like a polished diamond. 

 

Notes

Henry Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

Mathew 11: 30 – “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.