New lands – Newsletter of the Australian Marist Community

VOL 14: 14 April 2014

Greetings of hope and joy, Happy Easter to each and everyone!

Have you cried recently? I certainly have. Not for myself but for people close to me, including Brothers, whose lives have been turned upside down by events. I see people I love suddenly lose their physical or mental capacities, lose their livelihoods, lose their faith … and I cry. I see Brothers under investigation for alleged abuse from decades ago, struggling with the humiliation of the process of establishing their innocence, their lives frozen for months … and I cry. I am in touch with victims of abuse and their families, their lives scarred by betrayal of trust … and I cry.

I get a message from a friend in India – Rev. Bro Jeff. In our place we get famine. Please & kindly give me job in your area – and I cry.

Sometimes I rage as well at injustices, the results of human greed, hatred, jealousy, lust and the other deadly sins.

Then I realise that I too am complicit in a lot of this injustice through my indifference, fear and silence. Lord have mercy.

I am obviously writing this in “Passiontide”, the time for crying and rage, in the run-up to Easter, the time for uplift and joy. Then again, we can have both experiences on the same day! The point is that we live the whole of life with its wrenching and joys with “Jesus and the Spirit as our best friends … God’s last word on Jesus’ death was life, to raise his Son from the grave … Jesus meets us where we are, embraces us, and holds us close when the going gets tough, and helps us find the way forward …” (Richard Leonard SJ, Where the Hell is God?, p. 66-67). Thank God for Easter!

Br. Jeff – Provincial