There are so many thoughts and threads going through my mind
today. As usual I’d like to try to tie
them up all in a neat little package but the world is far more complex than
this.
I’m remembering a year ago when I was in Haiti. An experience that I still don’t really have
the words to describe or capture. A year
later I still struggle with the scenes of desperation and despair I
witnessed. And I have no hope of working
out the tension between the glimpses of hope and the unmistakable hold death
still has. I constantly remember the
smiles of the children receiving lunch at school as well as the pleas of the
children waiting outside the school to see if there would be any leftovers for
them.
On today’s date in 1980, the Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar
Romero, was martyred for speaking out against the violence, poverty, and social
injustice in El Salvador. The legacy and
stories of this man have shaped me and so many others. As I remember his death, I also remember Romero’s
remarkable faith and courage that were formed and displayed so vividly in his
work of showing God’s love in word and action.
And today is also my favorite day of the church year: Maundy
Thursday. It is the day in which we remember
the last supper Jesus had with his disciples in which he began the sacrament of
communion. It’s a day marked by a
celebration of community, grace, and the connection we will forever have with
Jesus and our fellow members of the Church.
After supper Jesus gave his followers a new commandment: “Just as I have
loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). I love the messages Jesus shared with his
disciples and with us even as he knew his death on the cross was coming the
next day.
With all this remembering I’m finding it difficult to move
forward today. It’s so frustrating to
recognize that in the grand scheme of things, not much has changed since these
events 1 year ago, 36 years ago, and nearly 2000 years ago. The world is still heavy with pain,
suffering, evil, and death. In Haiti,
instability and extreme poverty remain.
While there are certainly pockets of hope these oases are fragile and
could be destroyed so easily. In El
Salvador the gang violence has reached an all time high, and so many of my
friends and acquaintances there are forced to live in constant fear. In our world, we continue to see more and
more examples of people being divided rather unified. We see this in our politics, on social media,
in our culture, and most devastatingly in the Church. There are an infinite amount of examples of
how we fail to love our neighbors as Jesus loved us.
Even though Easter is only three days away, today it seems
unbearably far away.
