The Long Game

Resurrexit, Sicut Dixit, Alleluia! 
He has risen, as He said, Alleluia!

Greetings to all those who read this blog. I hope your Easter was filled with love, laughter, and the remembrance of Christ’s fulfillment of His promise! However you celebrated, dressed up or in pjs, delivery or home cooked food, big traditions or little ones, I hope it was a joyous day.

This week of the Octave of Easter is a wonderful reminder that Christ’s resurrection was simply the beginning of the next chapter in the story. Death was not the end. Suffering was not the end. The darkest times the Disciples had ever lived through in their lives may have seemed like the end, but God was just getting started.

The death of Christ is not the end of the story,  rather it is the start of a new beginning. I know it is easy to question our suffering in the midst of everything going on. When we reflect back on the Gospels from Holy Week, we see how God allowed His Son to suffer in the most horrendous ways possible all the way through to His death on the cross, because He knew His death would lead to the resurrection. We can always unite our own suffering to that of our Lord’s, and in that, we remember that it does not end with the cross. Instead, we have hope. Hope in the resurrection and the reality of understanding that our cross is part of our journey. It is difficult? Yes. Is suffering fun? No. However, sometimes, it’s necessary. Reflect on the times you’ve felt like you were suffering, whatever the situation was. Then think of the journey through that time in your life. What about when you came through it? We can always give our suffering and hurts over to Christ, who understands in such a profound way because of the road He willingly walked for each and every one of us.

I’m not saying it is easy to embrace the cross of our sufferings. We’re human. To be joyful in the midst of suffering is most certainly a challenge. However, when I think of some of the most difficult moments of my life, including watching my father almost dying from a blood clot as a child, losing my grandmother who I was very close to several years ago, and my miscarriage two years ago, I look back and see that I was never alone in my suffering. God held me, Christ walked with me, and Our Lady sheltered me in her mantle. After all, as I tell the young people at our meetings, God plays the long game. He is always working and always with us, even in the darkest moments. That is the hope we find in the cross and resurrection, a God who loves us so much that in that moment, He was just getting started.

God bless each of you in the Easter Season!