As Christians around the world celebrate Holy Week, a time in which we tend to the breadth and depth of the Paschal Mystery—the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ—we are afforded apt opportunity to reflect on the fact of dynamism, not only as part of the spiritual journey, but also as a key marker of Reality itself.
Dynamism is characterized by constant, on-going movement. Dynamism progresses, refines, and stirs. A dynamic spiritual stance is one that commits to transformation and renewal. In daily life, dynamism is experienced when one acquires new skills or grows developmentally. In spiritual life, dynamism occurs when we expand our consciousness or tune into the constant activity of the Holy Spirit.
Especially during Holy Week, and especially in this year’s experience of Holy Week–after a year-long, ongoing experience of pandemic—reflecting on dynamism tunes us into our experience of and beliefs about the continuum between life and death.
Teacher Cynthia Bourgeault reflects on some of our assumptions about death as part of her reflections on Mary Magdalene. In her book, she reminds us that Mary of Magdala waited with Jesus up until and even after his death. She posits the possibility that Jesus may very well have found his way back from the depths of hell in those days between his crucifixion and resurrection, precisely because someone, she, was waiting with him on the other side of death.
In my circles, it has felt like death moved closer-in during the last three to four months. I have lamented the lack of relational, life-giving language available to mourners as they try to navigate their belief, and more importantly, their lived experience of what it means to communicate now with their deceased loved one. Too many of us are left with a sense that the one who has passed is now “gone,” and that we must wait until our own death before we can truly connect again.
I wonder, if Mary could reach out to Jesus in waiting after his death, can we not also assume that Jesus, and for that matter, all the members of the communion of Saints, can and do reach back across the veil toward us? If the nature of Reality is marked by a dynamic continuum of matter, energy, and spirit, why do we accept a sense that our loved one is now “gone?” Rather, in a true spirit of dynamism, why do we not expect even more communication and Presence from those who have crossed the veil, now unencumbered by the heavy weight of matter and flesh?
This is my Easter blessing offering to you, especially for all of us who have lost a dear one, that the thin veil between life and death during this Holy Week might afford each of us with a dynamic encounter with resurrected life, supported by the threads of love that bond us to those who have passed through death and into new life.
