Easter 2023

Dear Sisters and Associates,

Here we are at the end of our Lenten journey.  I hope that you have had time to reflect upon your inner landscape and had many encounters with the Holy One.  As we begin this Holy Week, I hope that your heart’s landscape received many invitations of grace that now prepare you to celebrate the Risen Jesus on the great feast of Easter. 

In the readings for Tuesday of Holy Week we hear Isaiah (49:6 ) call us “to be a light to the nations.” That reminded me of a story I heard at a retreat once.  I do not know who the author is, but here is the story. 

“What does it really mean to be light?  One of the most wonderfully crafted understandings shared by the people of Jesus’ time had to do with sight.  It was thought that, at the very center of every person, in the middle of the body, was an actual fire.  This fire burned in the heart.  Of course, fire always casts a light, and the light from the fire in one’s heart filled a person’s chest, worked its way up the neck, and went into the head.  Eventually this light came out of the body through the eyes, illuminating the world, and in such a way, a person became able to see. 

All light, however, was not the same:  the quality of the light that came through the eyes took its nature from the quality of the heart in which the fire burned.  For the Jewish person, to be in touch with the fire in one’s heart meant to be in touch with one’s relationship with Yahweh, and so the more God was the center of your life, the stronger your fire burned.  The brighter the light that was cast from your eyes, the better you could see the world, and the better others could see the world because of the light that came from you.  For Jesus, then, it was a matter of quality—that light cast from his disciples’ eyes had the quality of God-light—it had come from a pure heart.”

So, if we are to “be a light to the nations,” we need to be sure that the fire burning in our hearts is God-light.  If we are going to be a light for the nations, then we must work to push back the darkness of war, violence, hatred, racism, betrayal, hurt.  If we are going to be a light we must hunger and thirst for justice, proclaim the Gospel of life and charity, and let forgiveness rise up within us.  This is the “heart fire” that leads us to Resurrection—to Christ, our Light.  This is the “heart fire” of mission and charism for us as bearers of Providence. 

In a reading titled: The Signs by Colleen Gibson, SSJ she says: “Hope does not erase reality, negate uncertainty.  Hope feels your pulse and tells you, you are still alive, that the sun will rise, that Christ is risen, and so must you.  Rise to the call of new life, not just for you but for all.  …This is our moment to live, to shine, to hope and to know that no matter what happens,…our hope will call us onward to stand together face to face and heart to heart, and together, our lives will be the signs of a new hope dawning for one and for all.”

May God fill your hearts with such a deep fire that your light will be the visible face of Providence in a world in need of compassion and love.  May that light be transformative for us, both individually, and as a congregation so that we walk boldly and courageously into our future. 

Happy Easter from your Congregational Leadership Team!  Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

With love and blessings,

Sr. Barbara McMullen

Congregational Leader