And With Your Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

August 21, 1883 is the infamous date in our local history, when as the result of oppressive heat and ominous stillness, the skies over Rochester, Minnesota would later become dark as the winds began to roar.  A tornado formed from these conditions, devastating most of the town and much of the outlying rural area. It killed dozens and injured hundreds. In the ruins of the small city, however, lay the seeds for its promising future: with the ingenuity of Dr. William Mayo and Mother Alfred Moses and the Sisters of St. Francis, a hospital was immediately set-up to care for the injured.  The storm didn’t take the Spirit and life out of Rochester and the surrounding communities, but rather enhanced the people and their tenacity – that which is stronger than ever today! 

There’s a lesson there for us, in what we’re going through now: storms happen, but they end, and life resumes, perhaps different than before, maybe even better.

There’s a lesson there, too, for us as followers of Jesus in his Catholic Church.

What happened to Jesus that first Holy Week was like a storm, especially for his followers: they went home sad, despairing, not understanding Jesus’ death, or what resurrection is.

But the storm passed, and once they understood Jesus’ death and resurrection, life resumed, though different than what they were used to, and most certainly better.

Better, how? Better because, by the death and resurrection of Jesus:

• We are freed from slavery to sin and from the futility of suffering;
• And we know we’re loved without strings attached and without bounds;
• And we know we’ll enjoy eternal happiness, which comes from our desiring being quieted, which comes from our wants being fulfilled all at once, completely and forever, which comes from our perfect union with God.

The life of Jesus’ followers is also different, because we live now, here, as if already united with God in heaven, living according to the mind and heart of God, which is modeled perfectly in the life of Jesus, and is memorialized in the Eucharist.

Where wheat is ground for bread, and grapes are crushed for wine – ground and crushed, but that’s okay, because that’s their fulfillment: they live to give to others.

And that’s our fulfillment as well: we live to give, and happy to do it! That’s the different, better life of those who follow Jesus through the storm, to risen life. We’ll get through this storm together!

God loves you!