Spring is a timely reminder that our hope, trust, and faith are in the God of the living, not of the dead. Death is not the end – it is the beginning.
Jesus does not ask anything of us that he was unwilling to face himself. Nor is he just asking us to “look on the bright side of things.” He’s inviting us to look deeper into the Paschal Mystery, dig deep within ourselves, and touch what is overwhelming and unbearable, seemingly hopeless, unimaginable, and bewildering. That’s where the Spirit guides us into a truth about ourselves we never dreamed possible or expected to hear. That’s where the Spirit reveals and makes known the God of hope. The God of the living.
So, what beliefs, priorities, and entitlements are we willing to risk or let go of to be children of the God of the living? Are we willing to ask the question, “Do I really believe the promise of Jesus? Am I willing to place my faith in the God of the living, or will I place my safety and security in my false self and ego and live among the dead and lifeless?” We are all called to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, but the cross is not just a symbol of suffering and death; it is also the cross of love and eternal life.
What does it mean to trust and believe in the incomprehensible mystery of the God of the living? Of course, the question is always personal but start with what is too much for us to grasp. What is beyond our understanding and comprehension? What pushes us to the limits of our belief and trust? What reality lies at the furthest margins of our courage and our wildest imagination? What wonder lives in the depth of our very being? If we want to enter into the grace and love of the God of the living, we should look for what we cannot comprehend. It is not the painful circumstances of life we fear and might want to avoid but the deep, unimaginable reality of what we truly desire and long for. Something within us recognizes it. It’s about who we are, our being, and our existence. It’s about a deep personal presence of love, an intimacy that always overflows with creativity, wonder, beauty, and joy.
When we have found in ourselves what is just too big, too much, too beautiful, and too wild to comprehend or to hold, we will have found the place where our life becomes one with God’s life. If we open ourselves to that God of the Living, we will see that God is never more real or more present than in that which lives eternally in the very heart and depth of our being.
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