A Contemplation For Easter Week

St. Ignatius, in his Spiritual Exercises, invites us to use our imagination and place ourselves within the story that we are contemplating.

In this instance, I imagined Jesus having an “out of body” experience after  his physical death. He saw all that occurred in being taken down from the cross and buried; he witnessed the grief of his mother and disciples; he was a aware of Peter’s sorrow for his denials and of Judas’ regret and despair for his betrayal; he even had an instantaneous review of his entire physical life. Courtesy of homeardjourney.ca

He was now already in complete union with God the Creator, his Abba, and with the Spirit.

Because he had become aware in his physical being that he was the Incarnation of God in the Divine evolutionary project he knew that his eventual death would not be final but that he would live on in a new way.

In the infinite wisdom of God, it had to be known for certain that the physical Jesus had died. And so a three-day space was left.

Mary, for her part, was in deep grief that her son should have had to suffer the ridicule, torture, humiliation and horrific physical pain of carrying and being nailed to a cross.  And yet she somehow understood and experienced deep inside herself that this was part of a larger divine project.

It was in that moment that Christ burst forth from death and revealed himself alive to her. It was for both of them a moment of complete oneness and joy.

Bernie Carroll, SJ, is a spiritual director at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario.

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