April 23, 2000
Dear Parishioners,
I must frankly admit that this Holy Week and Easter present me with a very different situation than Easter a year ago. It is a hard situation that forces me to think deeply about what we really mean when we celebrate and talk about "resurrection." Just a year ago our pastor and friend of 32 years, Msgsr. Wade was well into his 94th year of age, but hale, hearty and helping us with all the liturgies of Lent and Easter seasons. Margo Schorno, our associate pastor of 12 years, was indispensable leader, planner and designer for all our services. Dale Gilson, our long time sacristan – liturgist and friend, was struggling with the results of cancer and a recent stroke, but still very much a part of our parish family and its celebration. In mid May our school burned down, but that was a minor loss compared to what was to come. On November 1st (All Saints Day!) Msgr. Wade passed away. In a short two weeks, Margo Schorno followed him in death. Within three months Dale Gilson had joined them. Christ the King suffered a triple loss but now had its own trinity in God’s kingdom. That kind of loss and those deaths force me to ask what does Easter and "resurrection" really mean for Jesus, for our dear ones who have died and for our own daily life itself.
For Jesus, it is clear that the gospel accounts are the witness of early Christians struggling to talk about a hard to describe but very real experience. They did not experience a "resuscitated" Jesus, back from the dead but pretty much the same as before. In fact, the different versions and apparent contradictions in the gospel accounts indicate that the disciples were confused by the Christ they met; he was enormously different, but his living presence was still familiar, reassuring and real. The awesome change his risen appearance made in the lives and future of a scattered and frightened band of followers is pretty good evidence of that. They directly experienced a risen, living Christ.
But what about the "resurrection" and future of our deceased loved ones? The words and message of a Jesus who is risen and his followers who have experienced his continuing presence is a pretty good assurance, "a blessed assurance", that our loved ones live on. I find it also confirming and reassuring that modern science describes a universe: (1) where nothing is ever lost. The old view of a three story world with an upstairs space for "heaven" is long gone, replaced by "billions and billions of galaxies"; but it is a universe where even the smallest atoms and energy are never lost and where Stephen Hawking ("A Brief History of Time") can describe life continuing in another dimension; (2) where there is the new found sense of the universe as a journey rather than a random series of stops and starts, and a universe that accumulates and progresses rather than turns backwards and loses what it has achieved (like human lives!); (3) and, where at the heart of each person’s life is consciousness and relationship; that I believe is never lost. Our loved ones live on.
Finally for us "resurrection: and "eternal life" that Christ uncovers does not just refer to something we finally get to at the end of life or at the end of the line. It is also the quality and texture of what we live right now. "Resurrection" points to the real possibility of a life of hope rather than despair, a life of loving and compassion rather than resentment and indifference, a life that changes others and our world for the better. Looking back, I know that Msgr., Margo and Dale were living that kind of life. Our fond memories and the difference they made clearly establish that. "They whom we love and lose are no longer where they were before; they are now wherever we are." This Easter we remember, we celebrate and we believe what Christ announced long ago, "I have come that you might have life and have it to the full!"
Your Pastor,
Brian T. Joyce
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