Prayer for Easter

Kathy apologizes for the delay in posting an Easter message. She was called to Colorado suddenly to clear out and sell her home there, the final step in moving to the Bay Area to be near her beloved children and grandchildren. She prays it will become a resurrection…

God of Resurrection

and new life, you whose

dear son Jesus broke open

the tomb and the clutches

of death, help us to hear

the good news with the

enthusiasm of Mary Magdalene,

Peter and the beloved disciple.

May we too run with energy,

pause with prayerful reflection

and then believe as they did.

Help us hear “rumors of resurrection”

everywhere we go –and spread them.

***

As David Steindl-Rast points out in GRATEFULNESS: THE HEART OF PRAYER, the angel’s message to bewildered disciples doesn’t say that Jesus has come back to life. Our concept of life edges inevitably towards death. But Jesus has already passed through death. “He is not here” means that Jesus has gone far beyond our limited understanding. All we know is that “the tomb is open and empty, a fitting image for wide open hope.”