The Life of Christ as he comes for us!

Any time we complete a holy season, i.e.Easter, a little more than two weeks ago, our thoughts usually look to the current activities we find ourselves in. That is normal, especially when students get back to their educational duties, parents reestablish themselves with home duties and/or occupational requirements, and ministers prepare for the next scheduled holy days on their Church calendar. However, how many out of each of these necessary requirements contain themselves with what we just celebrated, with family and friends, or even for some just alone in their own thoughts? Not too many will continue with the fasting, alms giving, or prayers that helped prepare all of us for the Passion of Christ. Here is where the pattern of following Christ should remind you and I that there is much more than going through the Easter Triduum, until Easter Monday.

It is obvious that each group I mentioned above is not usually dedicated totally within what they just experienced. But for some, there lies beneath our feet and in our minds something a little deeper than just following the religious calendar and then moving on with a feeling of completing another holy season. Of course, we know that the Easter Season does not end until the Ascension of Christ. It is the time that follows the Resurrection of Christ and the Ascension that becomes the essence of what Christ did for us and continues in his quest to reach those who cannot or will not keep this blessed time in their hearts, daily.

What will be the most intriguing element that finds you or me this day when there is a constant pulling at our heart, although we may not identify this immediately. There is a voice that seems to infiltrate our consciousness without an audible clamor and yet it does not let up until we say yes to what the Lord is trying to get our attention to its sound.

This is why the time away from the noise of pleasure and wealth that always seeks our attention can become useless when we secure ourselves with a deeper essence of spirituality we may have discovered at Easter. Truly known, this will not be the call for everyone, but to those who do hear this call stop and become open to the voice that is deep within you and find a new meaning to life and a sweeping shroud of something that will enhance your total connection with the Spirit of God that dwells deep within you.

For many who receive this response and tell others about what they’ve discovered may find them rolling their eyes as if to say here’s another one of those religious nuts. But when you become a follower of what is in your hearts from Christ you will have reached a deeper essence of something you cannot explain, just grow in a holy connection that becomes very personal and one who finds what he expects from you.

Profoundly we shall absorb what Christ wants to give all of us; but we must become open to his voice.

Ralph B. Hathaway