I offer these four Easter musings as we begin this new season of Resurrection.
1) A Meditation Exercise for Easter (or anytime):
While in prayer imagine what it would be like for you to wake up with a Resurrection Body, sharing in the Risen Life of Christ.
Take some time with this and consider journaling your reflections. What did you imagine? How did you feel? How would you view life, yourself, others and creation from this Resurrection perspective?
2) An Easter Poem: “We Awaken in Christ’s Body” by Symeon the New Theologian
For a profound mystical understanding of an embodied Easter “awakening” contemplate this poem by Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022). You might try praying this poem as a Lectio Divina meditation.
We awaken in Christ’s body,
As Christ awakens our bodies.
There I look down and my poor hand is Christ,
He enters my foot and is infinitely me.
I move my hand and wonderfully
My hand becomes Christ,
Becomes all of Him.
I move my foot and at once
He appears in a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous to you?
—Then open your heart to him.
And let yourself receive the one
Who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body
Where all our body all over,
Every most hidden part of it,
Is realized in joy as Him,
And He makes us utterly real.
And everything that is hurt, everything
That seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
Maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged
Is in Him transformed.
And in Him, recognized as whole, as lovely,
And radiant in His light,
We awaken as the beloved
In every last part of our body.
3) An Easter Sighting: Student Riding his Bicycle to School
Tuesday morning while I was out for a walk I noticed a young boy riding his bike to our neighborhood elementary school. Before the pandemic I probably wouldn’t have thought much about this child on his bicycle. But today the vision brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of when I was his age (60 years ago) riding my bicycle to school. But what touched me was just seeing the children going back to school. I chatted a bit with the crosswalk guard. She told me that most of the children are really excited about getting back to in-person school. A sign of new life this spring. Alleluia. Christ is risen!
4) A free 40-Day Mindfulness Training Program: Mindfulness Daily with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
If you are interested in getting some good basic training in mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, I recommend that you check out this excellent program offered by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. It is free and can be worked through on your own pace. To check it out visit: https://www.tarabrach.com/courses/mindfulness-daily.