Paschal Mystery part 2

Here are some thoughts from Fr. Ronald Rolhheiser's book, "Holy Longing."  "The Paschal Mystery is a process of transformation within which we are given both new life and new spirit.  It begins with suffering, and death, moves onto the reception of new life, spends some time grieving the old and adjusting to the new, and finally, only after the old life has been truly let go of, is new spirit given for the life we are already living." 

Theologically, looking at Jesus' teachings and especially at his death and resurrection and what follows from them, we can see that there are five clear, distinct moments within the paschal cycle: Good Friday, Easter Sunday, the forty days leading up to the Ascension, the Ascension, and Pentecost.  Each of these is part of a single process, an organic one, and each needs to be understood in relation to the others to make sense of the paschal mystery.  Each is part of one process of transformation, of dying and letting go so, as to receive new life and new spirit.  

In caption, the paschal cycle might be diagrammed as follows:

1.Good Friday..."the loss of the life-real death"

2.Easter Sunday..."the reception of new life"

3.The Forty Days..."a time for readjustment to the new and for grieving the old"

4. Ascension..."letting go of the old and letting it bless you, the refusal to cling"

5.Pentecost..."the reception of new spirit for the new life that one is already living"

Put into a more colloquial language and stated as a personal, paschal challenge for each of us, one might recast the diagram this way:

1."Name your death"

2."Claim your births"

3."Grieve what you have lost and adjust to the new reality"

4."Do not cling to the old, let it ascend and give you its blessing"

5."Accept the spirit of the life that you are in fact living"

This cycle is not something that we must undergo just once, at the moment of our deaths, when we lose our earthly lives as we know them.  It is rather something we must undergo daily, in every aspect of our lives.  Christ spoke of many deaths, of daily deaths, and of many rising and various pentecosts.  The Paschal Mystery is the secret to life.  Ultimately our happiness depends upon properly undergoing it.

May the peace and joy of the Easter Season be yours, today and all the days of your life as you make your journey through life.