By Sis Nancy Catan. BCBP Manila
My memories of Easter Sundays are many. In the states as I was growing up, we attended the special Easter church service with all of us children receiving a small pot of spring flowers signifying new life, that we were to nourish and grow into fully blooming bushes. We took Sunday afternoon rides with Dad and Mom around the Vermont countryside looking for areas where spring greening was happening, all too often seeing patches of persistent snow hugging the ground beneath trees and hedge rows. One Easter I enjoyed coloring egg shells for the Easter Egg Hunt at a local center for handicapped children.
Here in the Philippines the several days’ vacation during Holy Week is a time for slowing down one’s pace of life, given either to deep reflections on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ and celebration of his Resurrection, or to taking a vacation away from one’s regular daily activities and trekking off with family and friends to see different places and tourist sites, always remembering to visit nearby churches for moments of meditation.
Jun and I usually spend Holy Week quietly at home, as we did this year, attending our parish services, catching up on our readings and prayer life, and taking time out to rest from the busyness of life. We enjoy the quietness as a good time for us to take stock of the many blessings that God has showered us with. And to look for the meaning in the difficulties we have and are experiencing in our lives … as well as in the alarming things happening in the world around us.
As our souls undergo this Lenten and Easter process of reflection and renewal, we remember that because of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, there is hope for the future. That because of the way we deal with life’s challenges, we shape our future. That because we have experienced difficult times, we treasure the good times even more. That because we have been blessed with encouraging and inspiring friends, we should strive to share this encouragement and be an inspiration to others.
I am always reminded of these lines penned by Sister Mary Gemma Brunke, entitled “Because”. She writes: “Because I have received kindness, I have been spurred on to be kind. Because I have caught the smile on another’s lips, I have found myself smiling. Because I have known the joy of receiving, I rejoice in giving. Because I have felt pain, I know what pity is. Because I have tasted humiliations, I know what consideration is. Because I have seen Christ suffer, I have had the courage to go on.”
I would like to add to Brunke’s lines: Because Jesus loved and died for us, for me, and was resurrected in joyous love, because I have experienced what it is to be loved, I can reach out to others in love.
A most Happy, Blessed and Joyous Easter Season to you all … just because …
