Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article A hidden wholeness Thursday, March 22, 2018 From John 8 Jesus said to them, "Whoever keeps my word will never die." Ronald Rolheiser describes two kinds of death: "terminal death," which is "the end of life and the end of possibilities," and "paschal death," which ends one life and begins another. The word "paschal" just means "relating to Easter or Passover," but it has come to describe the ordeal of Jesus during his last days, and the paschal patterns of our own lives. Rolheiser also sees two kinds of life: "resuscitated life," where I am restored to my previous life, and "resurrected life," when my new life is radically different from the old. Living a resurrected life requires change in the focus and commitment of my life's energy, from what WAS to what IS NOW. And not only my lived life, but also my spirit, must become new. This sounds more complicated than it is. He looks at Jesus' life and sees five moments that are parallel to parts of our own paschal experience: 1. Good Friday, the loss of life - "real" death 2. Easter Sunday, the reception of new life 3. The 40 days, a time for re-adjustment to the new and saying goodbye to the old 4. Ascension, letting go of the old and letting it bless you, choosing not to cling 5. Pentecost, receiving the right spirit for the new life that I am already living In our lives one thing is true if we live for long: we lose ground, lose traction, lose strength, lose naive ideals, lose family, lose friends ... So our personal paschal experience results in "new" life which at first is defined by what we have lost, by what used-to-be. Our life has been reduced and diminished. This is death, after all, and we move on only as we are ready to receive the new spirit for our new life. This takes time. Forty days, so to speak. Rolheiser tells several stories which illustrate five kinds of death: 1. The death of our youth 2. The death of our wholeness 3. The death of our dreams 4. The death of our honeymoons 5. The death of certain ideas of God and church In each story he looks at the example of Jesus. A woman was sexually abused by her father. "At the moment of abuse something inside of her, her wholeness as a person, died - and died irrevocably. No therapy, positive attitude, or sheer willpower can ever undo that any more than they can undo the original Good Friday. Like Jesus, she has been crucified. "However, she is not dead. She is a woman full of life ... But she is alive with the life of someone who has been violently abused, not with the life of someone who has not been abused. "Her task is to manage an ascension. She must grieve what has died and then, when the time is right, let it go, let it ascend, so that she can receive the spirit for someone who has been abused, which is a different spirit than for someone who has not been so violated" (these ideas and examples come from Holy Longing, chapter 7, "A Spirituality of the Paschal Mystery"). The woman in this story, like every single one of us, is not "whole." Her wholeness has died. But eventually, accepting that death, she can move through her grief and receive the spirit of her new life. We can too. The foundations of my life are fragile, Lord, if I keep them in my own hands. You are the only rock that stands. Nothing in my life is solid except the ways you show me to stand on your promises, stand on your resurrection and mine, stand on life after one death, and then another, and then another. "; Add      Edit    Delete