Holy Saturday: Where is Jesus, for you?

 Today is Holy Saturday--a quiet day!  Jesus has been crucified and buried. Everyone has left Calvary: some perplexed, some angry, some depressed, some rejoicing that Jesus has been done away with, as He was perceived by the leaders as a threat to their power and to their very nation continuing to exist and by others as obnoxious, threatening their beliefs and way of living, challenging their unjust and sinful ways. These individuals sighed a sigh of relief when he was arrested and condemned to death! Many of Jesus' disciples were frightened and went into hiding lest they too be arrested, imprisoned and put to death!  With Jesus dead, this was a scary time back then!

What about now?  Do we attempt to bury Jesus? to hide from Jesus? do we keep our faith in Jesus private? Do we ourselves go into hiding? Are we like Peter in the Courtyard who vehemently denied knowing Jesus? Or, worse yet, are we like Judas, selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, for a life of licentiousness and narcissistic endeavors, wanting God dead, declaring religion foolishness?  

Recently, there was a message on Facebook that read: "This little girl (around four years of age) has got to go"--the woman's boyfriend or fiancé would have nothing to do with her! Another recent Facebook message was that the groom's daughter around the same age was not to participate in his wedding. Who, in our lives, do we want banned from being a part of the most significant events of our lives?

Jesus was about inclusivity, not exclusion! Jesus came to bring fullness of life to everyone, not just a select few!  Jesus said to those wanting children banned from His presence: "Let the little children come to me. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!"

May we learn from Jesus, our Teacher, Master and Savior! Let's not exclude Him from our lives. Let us not bury Him!

Today's Good Friday!

 It is Good Friday and we are living at a time when what happened to Jesus is happening to innocent people, especially in Ukraine. Innocent civilians are being  put to death, thwarted in their efforts to flee to areas that are safe from Russia's invasion and Russian's efforts to destroy this nation and its people. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord, have mercy on us.

May Putin's genocidal efforts be stopped!  May Putin's disregard for human life, and ours in whatever way it shows itself,  be met with the truth of the sacredness of life, including his own and ours!  May the falsehood within him, and within us, be transformed into truth. May the evil within him, and within us, be transformed into goodness!

Lord, have mercy on all of us!  Innocent lives are being destroyed, gunned down, not only in war-torn areas of our world, but in our streets and homes, in the wombs of women who kill their unborn child. Besides the unborn, some of those innocent lives are those of children  who are victims of domestic violence and street violence. Some of these innocent lives are those mistaken to be a criminal at large! Lord have mercy!

Every day, Lord, you are crucified and buried when an infant, a child, an adolescent, an adult is put to death here and now! Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord have mercy!