Day 764 Tuesday April 19, 2022

We will awaken—not just to the dawn, but to the hope that the starkness of the tomb urges us to create.

WOUNDED BY BEAUTY’S ABSENCE

War rages. The Romans crucify. The earth trembles under the pounding of bombs.

The sky darkens as his body is taken down from the Cross.

Children, grandparents, and soldiers, perish under the weight of our rejection of the divine vision for who we can be.

Christ waits in the tomb and the rock shelters him. God’s gift of God’s self is spurned and destroyed, and yet in spite of this God still loves.

The heroic women come to the tomb to anoint Christ’s body. A nurse will gently bind a wound. The women will not find him in the tomb, because Christ lives and a teacher will teach in a refugee camp.

Because Christ lives, strangers will bring food and offer shelter. Because Christ lives, the wounds of the world will move us to act.

Because Christ lives, we will live as light bearers, as peace makers, as the ones who know God’s heart. Christ lives because God is love and the tomb is the very moment and place where that wounded love explodes into all reality, sending small shards of its light into each of us.

We will awaken—not just to the dawn, but to the hope that the starkness of the tomb urges us to create.

We have been wounded by beauty’s absence, and standing at the door of the empty tomb recommit ourselves to reimagine, reclaim, rebuild, and rejoice, because… Christ lives.

For Reflection:

Is there a tomb keeping me from stepping out to live the fullness of the divine vision for me?

In what way, however small, can I be a source of light and hope to those in my midst?

Can I make it a practice to listen intently to my heart each day to hear God’s gentle voice guiding me?

This is a reflection from Holy Saturday from Cecilia Gonzalez Andrieu

who is a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, member of the board of the Ignatian Solidarity Network, and author of Bridge to Wonder: Art as Gospel of Beauty.

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