Day 763: Easter Monday April 18, 2022

The Risen Christ cannot be found among the dead. Instead, the resurrection locates us in the here and now.

Swing wide the doors of my heart and let in love, let in light.

Oh let me live a holy, holy life.

Let me live, let me live a holy, holy life.

Oh let me love, let me love in a holy, holy way.

Let me love for love is all around us.

In my awakening may I be bold.

Om Shanti, Shanti Om.

Oh Divine One shine your light that I may follow,

shine your light that I may know...

Om Shanti, Shanti Om.

In my awakening clear my sight, as each day I arise to wonder...

to power and glory of the day.

Om Shanti, Shanti Om. Om Shanti.

Swing wide the doors of my heart and let in love, let in light.

It is only about love, teach me to let in the love,

let in the light of your blessings, Adonai, oh Spirit.

Swing wide the doors, the time is right...swing wide the doors of my heart!

- An Easter blessing from our dear friend Susan Hammond

Easter Sunday Our True Inheritance: a reflection by Greg Boyle

Jose got up to speak at the podium in a gym filled with teenagers.

He is 37 years old. 20 of those years have been spent behind bars.

He retrieves his first memory. “I’m five years old. And I keep standing in between my dad and my mom while he keeps beating her.” The father continues to swat the kid away, but Jose keeps returning. Finally, the father goes to the kitchen and gets the boiling pot of “frijoles” on the stove and dumps it on his son.

The entire gym gasps. “All my skin peeled off. I didn’t go to the hospital, cuz my dad said, ‘Nobody snitches in this house.’” Jose is first arrested at ten years old, for selling drugs for his father. He returns home, doesn’t want to sell drugs anymore and so the father throws Jose out of the house. He is now eleven and homeless. He joins a gang.

“I am grateful to my father for teaching me how not to be a father like him,” Jose says. “I cherish my boys and tell them how much I love them. I play hide and seek. My boys taught me how cuz I never knew. I love them as I never was loved.”

Poet David Whyte tells us, “to remember the other world in this world is to live in your true inheritance.”

The Risen Christ cannot be found among the dead.

Instead, the resurrection locates us in the here and now.

We are only saved, after all, in the present moment.

None of us will live forever, but we can surely live “in the forever.” The Risen Life invites us to a full participation in our true inheritance — allowing ourselves to be taught the game of hide and seek when our childhood has been denied us.

For Reflection:

How is the resurrection of Christ calling you to be present in the moment — to be saved in the here and now?

ANNOUNCEMENT: it's a Picnic on Friday

RAIN OR SHINE

Beth Jordan invites us to celebrate Earth Day in her community's clubhouse this Friday, 4/22/2022 from 4pm - 7pm.

Address: 4671 Circle Drive in Santa Rosa 95409

Please bring a snack to share (finger food) and a poem or a blessing in honor of our home on Mother Earth. RSVP to Victoria to her email:

victoriamacd2012@gmail.com