Tag: Love

Easter: A Season of New Life

Br. Michael Perras, ofm

St. Francis of Assisi in his “Praises of God” prayed, “You are our hope, You are our faith, You are our charity, You are all our sweetness, You are our eternal life.” These beautiful lines of prayer speak to the depths of this Easter Season. St. Francis trusted in new life and knew God was the source of this new life. It is why as his life was ending, he was able to prayer, “Praise to you my God for Sister Death.” He trusted in the promise of the Resurrection. He was able to surrender into “My God and My All” who was his hope, faith, charity, sweetness and eternal life. This is the anchor of Easter, our Savior Jesus died entrusting his all into God and God raised him from the dead so we may know the fullness of eternal life. St. Francis trusted in this promise. Do we? As we face the challenges of life, the setbacks, the little deaths, the brokenness and the letting go, do we trust our Risen Lord is with us as our hope, faith, love and life?

Mary Magdalene had to, so did Thomas, John, Peter and the Emmaus disciples. In the Easter weeks ahead, we will hear of the early church community which formed after the Resurrection. They too needed to trust the Risen Lord was present with them in the stories they shared and in the blessing and breaking of bread. The first believers are encouragement for us today. The chaos of their world is still the chaos we see in our world; we must be attentive to the Risen Lord in our midst in the simplest of ways.

As the Easter weeks unfold, we hear Jesus described as the Good Shepherd, and the True Vine. Images we can appreciate during this springtime. Images which remind us to pay attention to how the Risen Jesus is woven into the ordinary of our lives. The Risen Lord guides us as his flock. He desires nothing more than for us be a community gathered around the gift of his Risen Life. We are also to grow and produce fruit which shows the world we believe what we profess in our baptismal promises which we have just renewed.

Later in the Easter Season we will be reminded of how Jesus showed us God’s love and how he has asked us to show this love for one another. Christ chose us and if he chose us then the way we show who he is and his love in our lives matters. How in this Easter Season can we be concrete expressions of his love? How can we offer the hope of Easter to someone? In what ways can we encourage new life in our relationships and community?

Weeks from now at the end of the Easter Season, we will hear the beautiful promise of Jesus being with us until the end of the ages and the gift of his Spirit to us. The gift of his Spirit activates in us praise and entrusts us as heralds of his hope, faith, charity, sweetness and new life. Let us be these heralds this Easter Season!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Easter Peace!

Photo credit: Suzanne D. Williams

Love: The Depth of God’s Heart

Lenten Reflections with Br. Michael Perras, ofm – Week 4

Love is an action word which is used loosely and also has a lot of power. When used loosely it does not carry strength in it’s meaning, for example: “I love chocolate chip cookies.” However, when love carries power, it sounds more like, “Until my dying breath I will love you” and these words are followed through with actions which show the power of this love.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Rejoicing Sunday because we are over the half point in our Lenten journey. We may be rejoicing because our Lenten practices are going well or we may be rejoicing because soon it will be Easter and our feeble attempts of Lenten disciplines can fade away until next year. Regardless of where we are this Rejoicing Fourth Sunday of Lent the depth of love is at the forefront of the scriptures.

In the story from Chronicles even in the unraveling of the people and their unfaithfulness, God meets them with compassion to stir their hearts. Even when they do not respond God remains faithful to the power of love. Where have we encountered the love of God in our life? When we feel like life is unraveling do we trust the love of God is meeting us, strengthen us, restoring us?

“For God so loved the world he gave his only Son” is one of the most quoted pieces of scripture. It’s nice to quote, but it must be more than a tag line in our Christian experience. Like Nicodemus we have a choice when we hear these powerful words. We can raise our eyes to see the promise of eternal life through the cross and resurrection or simply leave it as nice story told once a year. We can believe we are saved through the gift of Christ with us or not. We can trust his light is infused in us and enables us to serve others or we can ignore the light. It is good to ask ourselves: Why do I believe? Where has the light of Christ been made present to me? Where have I encountered the depth of God’s heart? What are my reasons (or the cause) for rejoicing this week of Lent?

We are “made alive, raised up with Christ and gifted with eternal life” (Ephesians 2.4-10), these alone are gifts to rejoice in. The challenge is to consider where in our living and in the lives of others do we see these gifts. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “where there is love (charity) and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” Let us lean into power of love for from it comes the wisdom to live well, to preach the gospel with our lives and to rejoice in the depth of the love of God which is always for us.

By your Love, O God, you have gifted us Eternal Life. 

Photo Credit: Anna Kolosyuk