The reason for living is coming!
In the midst of this Holy Week we are on the eve of the greatest celebration for the human race. Indeed, the very reason and purpose of being human is about to be looked upon, unpacked, pondered, sung about and celebrated throughout the world.
Pope Benedict XVI at the beginning of this week on Palm Sunday in St Peter’s Square in Rome, said the drive and goal of every human being was to reach the heights of God himself. This desire we have to ‘be like God’ and attain divine heights is part of what it means to be human. And yet, as we know, there is a tremendous force of gravity which pulls us down. We know our limitations, we know our capacity for doing evil. So this is the human experience - our eyes are upward striving and longing for goodness, purity and freedom whilst a dark gravitational force forever pulls us downward.
Can we break free of this struggle ourselves? No! God himself must draw us up.
While we strive for pure hearts and clean hands, Pope Benedict says we should express our desire to God and cry to Him, “Draw us upwards! Make us pure!”. Would God ignore a cry like this? Never.
By descending to our human depths in the form of Jesus, the Man, God meets us in our flesh. And through the humblest and most extreme of loves, He draws us upwards.
So this Holy week we enter into the upward/downward/upward motion of the Easter season. God coming down to earth into our sin. Our desire going up to God. Jesus lifted up on the cross, then laid down in a grave. Jesus rising up from the empty tomb, us being drawn up to Heaven by His love. This is the motion of redemption!
The reason you are a daughter, a wife, a worker, a mother, a woman is going to be shouted from the rooftops (or at least from the churches) over the next few days. Salvation has come and His name is Jesus!
I’m about to head off to Light to the Nations, the Easter retreat run by the Disciples of Jesus at Galong. If you are going, I will see you there and we can celebrate together this astounding reason to be alive.
In the joy of the risen Lord.
Selina
