Do we feel that God is angry with us? For things we have done, and perhaps more perplexing for things we have not done? When our life spins into turmoil or when our toilet bowl does not flush, do we see it as God punishing us?

Do we feel that it is tough to remain Catholic because we always need to forgive others? Is God angry when we cannot forgive? When the toilet roll run out at that critical moment, is it because God is very angry with me?

Little details does confuse us about God. The Easter season is a good time to look for God in the little details of our life. Scripture cannot be completely understood if we do not experience it in our daily life. ‘Experience’ is key and we must search for it. Actually, all of us already have it in the pages of our life story. But these need to come alive.

Our lifetime is like a long road, unfortunately short for some. Our life story is what happened on this road. There would be pages of bad episodes, it happens with every person on the road. But there are also many good chapters which we sometimes forget to remain grateful for. Like the disciples today we must re-tell our story especially to ourselves. We all came through a lot of brokenness to reach where we are today. It would not have been possible if Peace did not come into those chapters.

During the Easter season, it is good to perhaps reflect on which side of the resurrection do ‘I’ travel my road? A lot of what we understand from scripture changed with the event of the resurrection. Have I allowed the resurrection to change my image of God? Am I stuck in the Old Testament without the New? Am I risen or unrisen? Is God full of wrath or is he love? Does he punish and not forgive?

Post resurrection has gifted us God in a new form to help us in our human form. He comes into our life with these words, “Peace be with you!” and dispels any notion that God is distant, authoritative and is somewhere in the universe. Actually he is present in the universe of our personal life. He travels our road right beside us.

We must chase after an encounter with the Risen Christ. This experience is found in the pages of our life-story, especially those chapters of bad episodes. We must look into the little details there to see who it was who led us out of those? Sometimes he is hard to spot because he comes in a guise of a person we encountered or in a ‘lucky’ turn of event. He is there because he is never angry and always forgives. He is love. Otherwise why is he “the sacrifice that takes away our sin”?

God cannot always be angry and punishing when forgiveness originates from him. It doesn’t make sense. We must witness this along the road we travel. Yes, it is beyond our human ability to forgive a wrong in an instance. That is why it is so tough to be Catholic. Making a choice to forgive does not immediately solve our issues; often it make the situation even harder when we beat ourselves because we cannot. But a choice made, however weak, is an opening, however small, to allow the Risen Christ to enter our hearts to impose Peace upon us.

He is risen to help the unrisen. He is love to bring peace into the wrath of life. Along the road we have travelled we find him in the little, insignificant details of our life. In those chapters of brokenness and struggle, do we not feel our hearts burn within us?

 

 

 

3rd Sunday of Easter