I was complimenting someone recently for his involvement in various parish ministries. He said his involvement comes from a sense of joy and relief. “When you have a vice and are addicted and then break free, you are happy to give back in this way.” He said something to that effect. I heard another person this week say he never imagined he would be in front of people, serving in ministry. But now he is, and quite significantly so, as part of the liturgical team. God called something forth in him.
“By dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising, restored our life.” We have heard these words a million times, in the Memorial Acclamation. And yet they are so true. Today we celebrate that something has been destroyed. We celebrate that something is being restored. Don’t we all have something in our lives that needs to be destroyed? Or if not destroyed, perhaps re-thought, re-imagined, re-phrased, re-configured? And don’t we all hope to be called to something new? Called to some new sense of ourselves, called to our best selves?
My prayer for us at Easter is that some part of us can fade away so that something new can come to the fore, that something in us can die so that something in us can come to life. A priest I know once said, “God gave us life because he thought we would enjoy it.” May we enjoy our lives, and may we enjoy the new life that God wants to restore in us.