by Christine Sine
Here is the good news. Out beyond the world of exclusion, and rejection and hostility, there is on offer a world of welcome that sees the other not as threat or competitor but as cohort on the pilgrimage of humanity. That alternative world of welcome is signed by bread and by wine; but it is known by lives that reach out and touch in order to heal and transform. (Walter Brueggemann: A Way Other Than Our Own 85)
How easily during this Holy Week we focus on the despair and betrayal, conflict and exclusion. How hard it is for many of us to find hope. And this year the grief over what has happened in Paris to Notre Dame Cathedral seems to spread a pall of smoke over all our good intentions and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet Notre Dame will be rebuilt. It is still structurally sound we are told. Life will emerge from the ashes, and it will be stronger and probably more beautiful than ever, but it will take a long time.
Notre Dame seems to stand as a symbol of what this week is about. Out of death life emerges, out of the crucifixion of our hopes a greater hope emerges.
What do you hope for this week? In what ways will you welcome God’s alternative world of love and hope, of generosity and freedom?