Greetings!

In the quiet stillness of these days, one cannot help but ponder and reflect, upon the significance, not only of lockdown, but of life itself and for us, people of [Christian] faith, the meaning of Easter, and its multi-layered blessings. To be sure, there is no escaping the enormity of what, as a people, we are facing in these days in Jamaica; no amount of bun, cheese, fish and the usual fare, here associated with the season, can compensate for the acute sense of bewilderment, many of us are experiencing and find, nigh unto impossible, to articulate.

I have a theory which I developed and proved during my time as a parish priest. It is that we are in the main, afraid of silence and stillness because by them, we are forced to be vulnerable and being thus, must accept the fact that we do not always have the answers to our many and varied problems. Silence with stillness, yanks the rug of certainty from under us! Even if that rug is old, tattered, worn and needing to be replaced, the fact of its presence, offers a kind of security…one we refuse to acknowledge, is no longer useful. So, we endeavor to fill moments of silence and stillness with various noises – even that of being busy; that way, we do not have to face the truth of our non-security and hence our insecurities.

It remains something of a paradox, this seeming human penchant for escapism. The fear of vulnerability and reticence to acknowledge our weaknesses, stem I believe from plain and simple unbelief! Yes, when we stop, as we have been forced to in these past three or so days, when there is nothing more to do and everything that would be used as a filler has been exhausted, leaving only us…you and me, facing the truth of our unbelief is that requirement which becomes necessary to sustain life, rather than merely exist. It is accompanied however, by the challenge to surrender – not to the reality of our denial[s], but to God!

So, in a real way, as no amount of sweet Jamaican treats can dull the senses long enough, for us to forget that we are in a serious pandemic, and many people [some our very own relatives and friends] are dying, so too the spiritualizing of those pauses within our various liturgies [whether we claim to be traditionalists or not], by infusing them with songs or other fillers, will most definitely not change the fact that only the soul and spirit, firmly anchored to God in Christ, can welcome quiet stillness, however it comes, as God’s invitation to experience in deeply renewing ways, that nothing…no thing, will be able to take away the joy of being touched by and enveloped in His eternal love. It was that Immanuel Consciousness that led Julian of Norwich, in the middle of a pandemic [the Bubonic plague] as Fr. Richard Rohr noted in this morning’s devotional, to experience what another of my favorite spiritual fathers, Brother Ramon SSF of blessed memory, would refer to as the inebriating joy that prompted her prophetic words of confidence, steeped in hope… “All is well and all will be well!”

Before Julian however, there was Mary! She, the apostle to the apostles, about whom the Church still tries to fill its unknowing, with stories, about her character; she to whom Jesus chose to reveal himself [see John 20: 13 – 17] with such intimacy and tenderness…she whose experience says to us that even in our fears and unbelief, no matter the circumstances that have brought them on, when we pause to acknowledge them and in doing so surrender whatever knowledge we believe we have and trust…God, He meets us where we are…in the stillness of our silences, in our vulnerable unknowing and invites us to experience Him in new and more intimate ways.

Today is Easter Monday; normally, it would be a day filled with Post-Resurrection merrymaking but now, in this differently difficult time…not so! Today, I am being invited to enter the quiet stillness, to experience there, in the midst of my uncertainty, that nothing that I can do will bring me that which I seek. Today, I am being encouraged, to experience in the emptiness, a longing…a yearning that no earthly thing will be able to satisfy. Today I am being encouraged to remain in that quiet, stillness and…hear my name being called, ever so gently, ever so intimately. Today, I am being told not to cling…to let go of all the various and sundry fillers and with hope renewed and restored, go and live…the power of His risen presence being the wind that will give life to all that I am and will become.

Until next week, stay safe and well, trusting in the risen Lord.

Grace+