Praising and Enjoying God
Recently someone asked me, “Why must we praise and worship God? It’s not like he needs it.” She had a good point. In fact, it used to seem strange to me that in the Psalms and other places, we are commanded to praise God—as if God were so insecure he needs us to regularly express our admiration of him. (more…)
Karl Rahner, SJ, Renowned Theologian and Humble Human Being
The German theologian, Karl Rahner, has been called “The Father of Roman Catholic Theology of the 20th Century.” Although he never wrote an autobiography, he was interviewed on German television in 1984 shortly before he died at age 80. I just finished reading the transcript of that interview in the slender book entitled I Remember. (more…)
An Easter Story about a Bunny and a Biplane
Here is a true Easter story about a bunny and a biplane.
The year was 1971. I was living in the boarding school affiliated with Notre Dame Academy (now NDCL) in Chardon, Ohio. I lived with Sister Joanne (then Sister St. Colette) and twelve 16-year-old girls in a beautiful spacious house called Nazareth, situated on our vast provincial center property. It was April 11. It was also Easter Sunday. And it was my brother John’s 30th birthday.
John owned a fabricating shop. He had recently married Mary. They lived in Chardon with her 5-year-old son, Tony. In his spare time John liked to fly. In fact, he and several of his buddies pooled their money and bought a plane together. It was a biplane, a 1941 blue and 
yellow Stearman. Open cockpit. John flew over our provincial center property sometimes. I could always tell when it was him even before I spotted the plane, because the Stearman made a distinctive sound–kind of a putt-putt-putt. When I heard it, most of the time I would run outside and wave to him. When he spotted me on the ground, he would tip his wings to me. What a feeling of connectedness that was. Every single time.
On this particular Easter I called John that morning to wish him a happy birthday. We chatted for a few minutes. Then he asked, “Are you going to be home this afternoon?” Yes, I said. I told him I would be at Nazareth. He said, “Good. I’ll fly over today. It’s Easter and I hear there are bunnies everywhere!” At that time, I didn’t know what he meant.
But sure enough, about 2:00, I heard the familiar putt-putt-putt of the biplane. I ran outside and saw John flying fairly low. I waved to him. He tipped his wings. Then I saw him, in the back seat of the plane, raise his giant arm up in the air. A moment later I saw a tiny parachute fluttering to the ground. Excited, I 
ran to the field where it was headed. When I got there, I saw it on the ground—a small blue stuffed bunny hitched to a parachute made out of a kitchen towel. I picked it up and waved it in the air so John would see that I had retrieved it. John tipped his wings again and then flew slowly away.
Later I called John to thank him for the Easter surprise. He told me the bunny was Tony’s, but Tony said I could have it. Mary gave John the kitchen towel for the parachute. He told me it wasn’t easy to drop the bunny. He had to take into consideration the wind, his altitude, and the speed of the plane. Otherwise the bunny could have landed in the top of a tree somewhere in the middle of the woods! But it landed in the middle of the open field in front of Nazareth–exactly where he wanted it to land.
Why am I telling you this story today? Well, besides occurring on Easter, the story has a definite Easter theme. When I think of Easter I think of three words: surprise, joy, and love. Jesus’ resurrection was a surprise. For everyone. Even for his closest friends. His appearance brought immense joy to everyone who encountered him (after they got over their initial shock and disbelief). And finally, Easter is above all a love story. The Father’s love for Jesus. Jesus’ love for Abba. Jesus’ love for all of us. In rising from the dead, Jesus, through the power of his love, takes all of us with him! One day we too will rise with him. We are connected to him. Forever!
My little story (on a smaller scale) is an Easter story too. I had expected my brother simply to fly over. Waving to him and having him tip his wings would have been gift enough for me. But he surprised me with more: a parachuting bunny! A gift fashioned with his skill, time, and creativity. And what joy that gift gave to me. A joy I relive every time I recount the story. Though John is gone seven years now, the story celebrates our connectedness, a connectedness we still share even though he is “up in the heavens now” and I am still journeying down here on earth. That connectedness is love. And thanks to that first Easter, love, even after death, goes on forever!
I wish each of you a very joyful, love-filled, and surprise-filled Easter!
Suggestion: do something really nice for someone this week. Surprise them!
Remember His Pain, Yes, but Remember His Love Even More
As Christians, we know at least three things about pain and suffering. First, we know Jesus did not remove pain and suffering from the world. Although he healed many individuals during his public ministry, he actually did not make much of a dent in the massive human suffering that swirled around him.
Secondly, as Christians we don’t have the answer to human pain and suffering–especially that of the innocent. Why did this little boy 
get cancer? We don’t know why. Why was that young mother of three killed in that car crash? We don’t know why. Why can’t this 95-year-old church-going woman die? She’s been begging God for months to come and take her, yet she lingers on and on. We don’t know why?
But the third thing we Christians know about pain and suffering is this (and it’s the BIG one): Jesus suffered. He suffered horrendously on the cross. I’ll say a few words about that later. But throughout his life he also suffered in ways similar to our own. For example, he suffered misunderstandings. Already at age 12, he dallied in Jerusalem, causing misunderstanding and anguish (unintentionally) to his good parents. Later he suffered 
misunderstandings with his extended family as well. Remember when he began his public ministry, his relatives thought he was crazy? They tried to kidnap him and drag him back home again. Jesus suffered misunderstandings with his closest friends too. Despite his teachings and the example of his living, Jesus couldn’t get through to his disciples. They kept jockeying for the highest positions in his “organization.” It got so bad that, at the Last Supper, Jesus had to illustrate in an unmistakable way the type of leadership he was calling for in his disciples: the love and service of others—demonstrated so tenderly by the washing of the feet.
Besides experiencing misunderstandings, Jesus also suffered loneliness, exhaustion, discouragement, grief, uncertainty, disappointment, betrayal, fear. In the garden of Gethsemane, his terror was so intense, he sweat blood. Then there’s the crucifixion itself. To put it bluntly, the Romans “designed” crucifixion to maximize pain while prolonging life. They used it regularly to deter any type of uprising. 
Crucifixions were public events. Sometimes the crucified hung on their crosses for days–usually along the busy roads so passers-by would be forced to see them. Jesus’ death must have been ghastly. Even the prologue to the crucifixion was ghastly–the scouraging, the mocking, the crowning of thorns. Who knows what other terrible things the drunken soldiers did to him that night.
In one way, our crucifixes are too nice. For one thing, Jesus wears a loin cloth–which he probably didn’t have on. I’m not saying our crucifixes should depict the crucifixion in all its gore. But I am saying this: as we pray before our crucifixes and venerate them, we must remember that Jesus’ agony was far worse than we depict it. A few years back, a French artist did fashion a crucifix that was both realistic and gruesome. A woman who was viewing the crucifix, said to the artist, “Sir, I do not like your crucifix. It is too unpleasant.” The artist replied, “Madam, it was a very unpleasant occasion.”
We do not have an answer to pain and suffering. But we have something better. We have a person. We have Jesus who embraced his own pain and suffering out of love for us. He surrendered to a horrific death with absolute trust in Abba, in God. Jesus teaches us that our pain and suffering too can somehow be redemptive.
This Holy Week let us remember Jesus’ pain and suffering. But let us remember his great love even more. Let us thank Jesus for being our “answer” to pain. And when we are experiencing our own particular agonies, may we always remember this: Jesus understands. He’s been there. And he’s with us now.
As the dramatist Paul Claudel has said so beautifully, “Christ came not to eradicate our suffering, but to fill it with his presence.”
I would like to conclude this reflection with this three-minute video entitled “Jesus Wasn’t Just a Man.” (I thank Sister Sandy for forwarding this to me.) There are no spoken words, only written ones. It goes fast, just so you know. Watch it in full screen if possible. When you’re finished, click “escape,” then the reverse arrow at the top left to come back to this blog.
What are you feeling, thinking about, or praying about this Holy Week?
PS: My reflection for Easter will be published on April 19, Holy Saturday.
ALSO: There seemed to be a “glitch” in my blog this past week. Some of you were notified of a new post, but when you tried to access it, the page could not be found. You didn’t miss anything. The posts are scheduled for the next few weeks (I’m working ahead), but somehow you received notification early. I’m sorry! My “tech experts” think they have solved the problem.
Jesus Comes as a Thief in the Night
Jesus came into the world over 2,000 years ago. Even historians who are not Christian support that claim. But as Christians, we believe Jesus came not only into the world of the historical past; we believe Jesus continues to come into the world of today. And he comes not only into the world in general, but into our lives in particular. (more…)
