Holy Saturday: Wounded by Beauty’s Absence
BY CECILIA GONZÁLEZ-ANDRIEU, PH.D. | April 16, 2022
Today’s Readings
Reflexión en Español
War rages. Christ dies. The earth trembles under the pounding of bombs. The sky darkens as his body is taken down from the Cross. Children, grandparents, and soldiers, perish under the weight of our rejection of God’s vision for who we can be. Christ waits in the tomb and the rock shelters him. God’s gift of God’s self is spurned and destroyed, and yet in spite of this God still loves. The women will come to the tomb to anoint Christ’s body. A nurse will gently bind a wound. The women will not find him in the tomb, because Christ lives and a teacher will teach in a refugee camp. Because Christ lives, strangers will bring food and offer shelter. Because Christ lives, the wounds of the world will move us to act. Because Christ lives, we will live as light bearers, as peace makers, as the ones who know God’s heart. Christ lives because God is love and the tomb is the very moment and place where that wounded love explodes into all reality, sending small shards of its light into each of us.
[Christ, Bianca Badillo, for Meeting Christ in Faith & Art, LMU 2022]
For Reflection:
- Is there a tomb keeping me from stepping out to live the fullness of God’s vision for me?
- In what way, however small, can I be a source of light and hope to those in my midst?
- Can I make it a practice to listen intently to my heart each day to hear God’s gentle voice guiding me?
Cecilia González-Andrieu is professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, member of the board of the Ignatian Solidarity Network, and author of Bridge to Wonder: Art as Gospel of Beauty.
La doctora Cecilia González-Andrieu es profesora de teología en Loyola Marymount University y es la autora del libro Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty.
Brought me to tears. So beautiful. Small shards of light are in each of us. Christ lives! Thank you.
That was a beautiful reflection today, relating Christ’s passion, death and resurrection to our lives. May you have a blessed Easter.
As the author states: “we have been wounded by beauty’s absence”. Our lives ‘need’ beauty it is part of who we are and want to become. The spring beauty of nature, the beauty of people wanting to celebrate Christ’s life within us, the beauty of each other, the beauty of discovering goodness in ourselves and others and recognizing it. During this time let us find beaty and flaunt it. The Holy Spirit calls us to discernment and with Him we see the beauty that creeps into our Art, our music, our dance and each other. The beauty of the sunrise and sunset is offered by God. The inclusivity of our lives by wrapping our minds spiritually around others. Filling our lives with beauty brings us the joy of knowing/loving and serving our God in the best way possible with all our gifts and abilities shining forth in the world. Let us today ‘notice’ the beauty of others and tell them why it helps us.
Lovely.
And the resurrection lives in the power of your language. Thank you for this foretaste of Easter.
Nice reflection, thanks Cecilia. Happy Easter.
May the light continue to shine in all our hearts this day and all ways.
Beautiful 7×7