Easter, the celebration of the rising of Jesus from the tomb, happened this year on Sunday, April fourth.  Christ has conquered death, once and for all. But our human partiality towards violent solutions, twisted moral choices, and self-absorption goes on. So, in a metaphorical sense, you can say that Christ still suffers His agony. He still bears our sinful weight, and the weight is as heavy as the world.

It’s as if Good Friday and Easter were happening not on any particular day in the calendar, but in some kind of universal time. The shadow of the Cross stretches across the universe, and then somehow farther.

The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are historical. They took place on a planet we call Earth, in a time and place that can be located. But in a very real sense, the drama of the Resurrection is an incident in a cosmic war between good and evil, between the Holy Trinity and that which opposes it.

God has already won. The outcome is assured. But in our secular, human time, the battles are still underway.

BLESSED IS HE…

On a cold spring morning
Christ rose
Though a cold wind combed the myrtle and the palm

The north still reigns
And the white weather of the near frost
Covers the garden of Gethsemane

The world does not welcome
Its own salvation
The wounds of Christ still bleed

Do not touch
For though He has ascended to the Father
Red footprints cross the garden paths

Who will recognize the risen Christ
As he walks the road to low Emmaus
In the late sunset shadows?

Let Him break new bread and utter blessings
Lift the cup and say:
Blessed is He who sanctifies the vine