THE WEEK after Easter

a place of peace

With all of the preparation for and involvement with Easter and Holy Week, this is now a time for many to step back an recover.

Yet, Wait. This weekend is EARTH DAY! Let us not forget to celebrate the new life of spring and spread some hope around with our good earth actions.

Don't know what to do? Simple stuff like picking up litter is fine. Or planting some flowers to beautify your corner of the earth. Or participating in a community Earth Day event. Or writing letters to legislators on environmental issues.

Why not set up a folder which will make it easier for you to put your hands on the names and addresses of those people and put some postcards and stamps in it too. That way when you are inspired to write, you are also READY to write.

What about putting a Big Star on one day in each month and let it remind you that we live on a planet travelling around a star and YOU want to do something special that day to celebrate or preserve or protect it. Then tell me what you did, if you want!

EASTER Sunday

peace place
Easter is remarkable.

Filled with the beauty of springtime...

Full of paradox of life and death. . .

Rich with the joy of the resurrection.

And Christians all around the world greet each other
with:
He is Risen.
Yes, He is Risen, Indeed. Alleluia.

Holy Saturday

peace place
O God, I rest in hope,
for I know that you will raise me up.

This is the waiting time. Use it in sacred ways.

We have an advantage over the twelve apostles.

We already know there is an Easter on the horizon.

Allow yourself to feel the grief they must have felt when they did not know this.

Give yourself permission to be solemn but with a joyful heart.

What did you do to keep this day holy?

Good Friday

Good Friday
And what is good about it besides having some time off from school or work?

It is a time of sacrifice for Christians. Remembering the suffering and death of Jesus Christ whose enemies called him King of the Jews.

His kingdom was not and is not of this world. They did not understand that.

"Our sins were carried to the tree that we might die to sin

and be set free from death."

Psalm 88

O God, I call for help by day;

at night I seek your presence.

Let my prayer come before you.

Turn, hear my pleading.

Today, in a contemporary Cry of Passion, I turn to the Passion of our Earth.

What is it that we do to crucify our home?

Christians and people of faith have a responsibility to care for the environment. God calls us to be stewards of the Earth, and taking care of creation is both a sacrament and a duty of religion.

In the words of Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ:

In our day the human race is inflicting deadly damage on the life systems that keep this planet a habitat for life. The twin engines of destruction are over-consumption and overpopulation. In 1950 the world numbered two billion people; now, at the turn of the millennium it numbers six billion; and by the year 2030 there will be ten billion persons on the planet. Think of it this way: the Earth's population will have multiplied five times during the lifetime of someone born in 1950.

To translate these statistics into a vivid image: another Mexico City is added every sixty days; another Brazil joins the planet every year. Our species now uses up resources faster than Earth's power to replenish itself. By a conservative estimate, in the last quarter of the 20th century, 20 percent of all living species have gone extinct. We are killing birth itself, wiping out the future of our fellow creatures who took millions of years to evolve. We live in a time of a great dying off.

I invite you to another view of this Passion.

http://www.stgertrudes.org/Monastery/Passion/passion_of_earth.htm

Peace be to you.

Tridium begins

peace place

O God, you are the rock of our strength.
Teach us to walk the path of truth.

The Tridium is a sacred time for Christians. It tells the
story of the passion of Jesus Christ, beginning with the Last
Supper on Thursday night. It is central to the Christian faith.

Follow with us.
Walk these days with reverence and anticipation.

AMAZING DAY

This day will only happen once. It is here. Pay attention. Spend it well. I might even set my alarm clock to celebrate a special moment that will only happen once.

On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be

01:02:03 04/05/06

That won't ever happen again.

Simplicity.