Reflection for Saturday, April 23, 2011: The Easter Vigil.

Abstract

Today is rich with Readings. As I move into the celebration of Easter Sunday tomorrow, I am going to list the reactions I had to some of the Readings.||Reading 1 - I interpreted the message as-'Be in awe of creation.'|Reading 2 - This Reading continues to baffle me as an adult with a different spiritual formation than that of my childhood, as a nurse, as a health provider and as a grandmother. On a parallel note, a freshman nursing student I teach this semester had an assignment last week in her Sociology Class. She was to ask 10 people how they defined family and what the purpose of family was. I was one of the 10 people she asked. I gave her one answer of how I was socialized and educated in my early years to 'understand' family. My definition of family was also strongly defined by what I personally experienced. The second definition that I gave her was the understanding I now have, almost seven decades later, after a life of formal education, global travel, increased knowledge and reflection.|I know how this Reading 2 has been explained from the pulpit and in some writing over the decades. There are other ways of 'framing' the message in this Reading. I remain baffled.|Reading 3 - The bafflement continues with this Reading when and if there is smugness taken in the deaths of 'the other' or if there is ascription of a belief of a God who favors one population over another. I remind myself that this is taken from the Old Testament and that what we celebrate tomorrow is about different spiritual traits. I regret that I no longer have the citation for the following quote (these are not my original words) - " ... Jesus gave its members a new way of life to live. He gave them a new way to deal with offenders-by forgiving them. He gave them a new way to deal with violence-by suffering ... .He gave them a new pattern of relationships between man and woman, ... between master and slave ... " (Source and date unknown).|Reading 4 - I interpret this as a consoling Reading, i.e., one will never be left alone.|Gospel - Some bafflement remains (the recognition of women then and now). I have just finished reading Gregory Boyle, S.J.'s book, Tattoos on the Heart, and am re-inspired to stand in solidarity with the marginalized as the journey toward the Easter we all want awaits us in the future.|Easter Saturday - a reflective compendium of many Readings.