Wishing all of you a blessed Easter! Our world needs Easter like never before. As we observe the Easter Vigil, see the Light of Christ in the holy fire lighting the Easter Candle, see it, feel it  pierce the darkness. Rejoice in the Light. See the sun rise at Dawn and know that death could not hold Jesus. He is risen! Let the people respond: He is risen indeed! And in our Good Shepherd Church we add:With Christ I rise! I rise! We rise! For through the living Christ we are stirred to life NOW, and leaving behind our burial clothes and any remnants of sadness and death,and all obstacles that separate us from our loving God, we enter the fullness of life with Christ both now and forever! Thank God for the living Christ, thank God for Easter. Shake off your burial clothes and live as Easter people! Amen!

This is the Resurrection Narrative for this Year:

The Resurrection
of Jesus.
But at daybreak on the first day of the
week they took the spices they had
prepared and went to the tomb. They
found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered, they did not find
the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were
puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling
garments appeared to them. They were
terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said to them, “Why do you seek the
living one among the dead? He is not here,
but he has been raised. Remember what he
said to you while he was still in Galilee, that
the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third
day.” And they remembered his words. Then
they returned from the tomb and announced
all these things to the eleven and to all the
others. The women were Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the
others who accompanied them also told this
to the apostles, but their story seemed like
nonsense and they did not believe them. But
Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down,
and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went
home amazed at what had happened.
Luke 24:1-12

Thank God for the faithful women that did not abandon him-even at the tomb. Thank God they carried the news to the other disciples.  How sad that the men did not believe them until they saw for themselves. But thank God, they did see for themselves! May we honor all who share the Good News with us-and this is the Good News: He Lives, and we too live!

Below Rev. Jane Via, RCWP, Rev. Janice Sevre-Dusynska, RCWP, Rev. Roy Bourgeois

As we are living this Holy Week, this Triduum, this three days before the Resurrection, and Easter, I am not yet able to reflect on it here but as it settles in the next week I will share our Good Shepherd journey and my journey with you. These days have been profound for me. In the meantime I am happy to share here the moving poetry for each day by Rev. Roberta Meehan, RCWP from Arizona. With gratitude to Rev. Dr. Meehan.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, RCWP-Co-Pastor Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community of Fort Myers, Florida

(Below) Poetry For the Triduum and Easter by Rev. Dr. Roberta Meehan, RCWP

Maundy (Holy) Thursday – 24 March 2016

 

Holy Thursday

 

The meal complete, he looks around.

Are they ready?  His humanity wonders.

Challenge and pain curl his brow.

And emptiness closes his eyes.

Tightness grips his chest as he surrenders to the moment.

 

Then back – a slight smile spreads across his lips.

A laugh teeters in his throat.

Now!  He thinks.  Now!  Now is the time.

 

They look at him – not knowing what to expect.

Wondering what he is thinking, planning….

 

He reaches for the breadbasket

And pulls it toward himself.

He chooses a small loaflet.

Elbows on the table, piercing dark eyes in a gentle teaching mode….

“Do you know what this is?”

 

Disbelief shrouds their sighs.

“A remnant of bread?” ventures one.

“From our Passover meal?”

“Not so,” he instructs.  “Not so.”

“Think!”  He pauses.  “Think and watch.”

 

His attention shifts to his cup.

He toys with the edge and again questions them.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Your wine?” One asks.

“You haven’t finished your wine.  Do you need more?  We have plenty.”

 

He becomes somber.

“No.  Not so.  You do not understand.  Think.  Think and watch.”

 

He studies the bread – contemplating, visioning.

A serious focus embraces the wine.

Back and forth he gazes, blessing and knowing –

Past and future merge!

Bread and wine converge on NOW!

 

He holds the bread, intently, carefully.

“This,“ he instructs, “This is my body!”

 

“Here, take it!”  A commanding offer.  “Take it and eat it.”

His eyes meet the first and move from one to another.

“All of you!  Eat it!”  And they do.

 

He holds his wine cup – studying it, swirling it.

“And this,” he says, “This is the cup of my blood!  This is the cup of salvation

Which will be shed for you and for many.

Here.  Take this cup and drink from it.”

Again their eyes meet.

“All of you!  Drink from it!”  And they do.

 

Solemnity falls on those assembled.

They look each to the other.

They know only vaguely the enormity of what has happened.

 

He looks lovingly, sadly, at each of them.

“You,” he says.  “Now you are my body; now you are my blood!

Furthermore, I tell you to do this.  Do this in remembrance of me!

Do this until the end of time!  And I am with you!”

 

He looks down.  They become – all of them – one in him and he in them.

And he whispers, “It is finished!”

 

Good Friday – 25                      March 2016

 

Good Friday

 

Beyond reality

Beyond the pain

Nothing matters; fulfilling the mission

“This is why I am here.”

Focus the journey nears its end.

 

Why do they scourge me?

Romans – Jews – doesn’’t make sense

Who are they?  Doing a job

Why do they crown me?  Doing a job

Forgive them; forgive them; forgive them.

 

Where are they?  My family, my friends

Last night – I gave them me

Now, where are they?  I need them!

Did they leave me?

So alone!  Why?

 

Carrying the cross – heavy – help

Hold the end – thank you

Wipe my face – yes.  Thank you.

Grateful – can’t think.

Falling, falling, falling.

 

Nails, nails, nails –

Support my arms!

Trouble breathing

Ease my pain

Fog my thoughts!

 

Stripped naked

All of me – hanging from a tree

Nothing hidden – nothing ever hidden

No shame

I am me; stripped as me.

 

Thirst – terrible thirst

Sweat – blood – no, not gall!

Oh – worse – why – doing a job

They don’t know what they are doing.

Forgive them; forgive them; forgive them.

 

Crowds mocking me.  Friends too.

Scorning me.

Saying terrible things

They don’t know what they are doing.

Forgive them; forgive them; forgive them.

 

Two men here

Talking

One understands – he’ll be with me

The other doesn’t know.

Forgive him; forgive him; forgive him.

 

Family and friends

I see some now.

My mother – my beloved

Others too

Hold each other!  Love each other!  Love each other!

 

Am I forsaken?

Am I delirious?

Take my spirit!

Forgive them!

It is finished!

 

Holy Saturday – 26                    March 2016

 

Holy Saturday

 

The barren cross bespeaks the truth.

He is gone; he is not here.

Unfilled promises and empty dreams

Engulf and strangle the ones who are near.

 

Behind the rock his body lies

Entombed in silence in a borrowed grave,

Stilled from life, alone in a shroud,

Transcending time but ensouling the now.

 

What did he teach them, and what did they learn?

How could he leave them forlorn and afraid?

He taught them to love; he gave them himself.

He instilled in them hope and a reason to be.

 

They look around and try to make sense

Of the emptiness and their fear-filled lives.

They try to make sense of his cross and his death.

They try to make sense of the time they have lost.

 

They look around and try to make sense

Of the Passover meal, the bread and the wine.

It’s all a blur, they feel so lost.

Nothingness fills the sorrowing, empty day.

 

They wait in agony to go to the tomb

To mourn, to sit, to hope, and to pray.

Their loss on this Sabbath is much more profound.

His echoing words – for whom was this Sabbath made?

 

They’ll go in the morning to prepare his remains.

There is nothing left of this Sabbath of God.

He gave himself in the bread and the wine.

He gave himself in his death on the cross.

 

And now they wait for the promise of life,

For the promise of hope in the bread and the wine,

For the promise he gave to always be near.

Could they find meaning in his death on the cross?

 

 

Easter  27 March 2016 

 

Resurrection

 

 

“Where is he?”  Desperate scream —

Anguished widow-church at the empty tomb

 

Her Self detached

— as stark reality impaled her

— as emptied bowels contorted her.

 

The oneness they were

The embodiment of unity — the bounds of creation

Diversity branching from unity — divinity ensouling humanity

 

She was his beloved – his moment of creation.

This is my body!

And she consumed him and he was hers.

 

The hope, the kingdom,

The church they would build

The promises-dashed and broken.

 

Hanging from the cross

Crushed and buried

This is my body!

 

And now — wrenched from her very soul

Even his body — no more —

Taken — this last violation.

 

Alone — too drained for fear, she moved

Each step bearing the weight of the unsaved world.

 

“Mary!”  She turned.

 

Involution of unclaimed brilliance

Exploded in one majestic NOW.

 

Their eyes met

Joy erupted from the very fonts of their beings.

Reaching fingers touched.

 

And once more — divinity engulfed humanity.

This is my body!