It has been an early, and too long an agonizing Good Friday in Haiti. In these days gone by, every part of our being screamed, “Enough is enough.” Yet, as in prior tragedies, we have seen that the human spirit will not be defeated. We saw it in New Orleans after Katrina, and after the great tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, both cities now built anew, life flourishing once more. This gives us hope. Haiti’s cities can be rebuilt. There will be a resurrection.
But nowhere is resurrection more essential than in the human corpus – new life for those grieving with a heavy heart…and for those whose hearts have melted. Though the worst seems to be over, our faith and love will continue to be tested. What will happen when the headlines subside? Perhaps even more than in these last two weeks, we will need to persevere in our faith…and our generosity. As in the movie, “Jesus of Nazareth”, after the crucifixion and empty tomb - the unthinkable and the uncertainty - which ends with the words, “Now it begins”. So, too, in Haiti, and with us...Now It Begins.
Indeed, we have already seen a new beginning in progress – signs of a resurrection – new life, new-found hope. We have seen it in the miraculous unearthing of those buried alive for days. We have seen it in the heart-pouring generosity of rich and poor alike. After a recent appeal, a woman came out after Mass, told me she did not have her checkbook with her, but took off her sterling silver necklace and bracelet and her diamond rings, and said, “Father, build as many houses as you can.”
And we have seen it in the collaboration of nations, politically at polar opposites – Israel and Cuba, Venezuela and Italy, China and the U.S., and so many more, working hand-in-hand, each with something to offer: a hospital flown in and built in one day, numerous clinics and medical staffs provided, food pantries and fresh water tanks, temporary shelters, the heart-warming embraces of little ones, many opening their hearts and homes for adoption, people of good will reaching out in a common cause of concern and compassion to bring relief…to share in the suffering…and to share our love.
We ARE family. And we ARE Easter people. We have experienced death. But it has also been life-giving to give our all and to see the ripple effect of so much magnanimous goodness. Jesus said that his mission was “to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to give sight to the blind, to set the captives free” (Lk 4:18). Then he commissioned us to do likewise. And that is precisely what we have witnessed: bringing love and healing to those in need, opening the eyes of those who are blind to the presence of goodness, releasing those in a prison of hopelessness and despair.
The “resurrection” has begun. Still, much more will be asked of us…for the sake of our sisters and brothers in Haiti, and for our own sake…our own resurrection. When will it end? After helping out in the missions in Jamaica during Holy Week, when I returned to the U.S., I greeted the customs official in Miami, saying, “Good morning. How are you?” His response blew me away. With a radiant smile, he said, “I am resurrected!” Easter will come to Haiti…and to us…when they, and we, can say, “I am resurrected!.”
Though, it has begun.
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Beautifully said! It is nice to hear that there is Hope in the middle of this horrible experience. God Bless You for keeping us strong.
ReplyDeleteI pray that we keep this in front of us. We seem to have short attention spans and quickly move on to something else. The faith we have seen in those rescued -- resurrected, if you will, is boggling. I can't get the picture out of my mind of the woman who was rescued singing praises to God, or the people on the street who had lost everything and were praying and singing together. Would we do the same, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteIn the face of this recent tragedy, horrific as it was, is the hope that finally the Haitian people will get the help they always have needed. Sometimes, out of despair, comes "care".
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