The Power of Christ’s Resurrection. For Us. Today

 

The dawn after the worst day,

Mary Magdalene and her friend Mary had seen

Jesus, whom they deeply loved—

A radiant, beautiful, strong young man

Tortured, mocked, and judicially murdered.

But as they visit the tomb, they encounter Jesus,

Very much alive. Chairete, he says, Rejoice.

And then, the very first sentence the risen Christ,

Speaks to those who love him–Do not be afraid,

Me Phobeisthe.

 

     Do not be afraid. Why?

Because the impossible has happened,

And a dead man has returned to life

(And was later seen by at least 516 people).

The risen Jesus is no longer confined by

The dictates of space and time.

Like oxygen, he is with me

In every room I enter, and with you,

An invisible, but real friend.

I am never alone.

Wisdom and strength is always available

If I slow down and request them.

 

Do not be afraid, because the resurrected Jesus

Breathed on his disciples, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,”

As he breathes on us today.

Jesus observed that justas even evil parents,

Do not give a snake to a child asking for fish,

Or a scorpion to a child requesting an egg,

His Father will not refuse His Holy Spirit

To those who ask for it.

And it is the power of the Holy Spirit

Which helps us change

Our hearts, our characters, and our lives.

 

Do not be afraid,

Because the resurrection of Jesus

That explosion of seismic power

Has burst the boundaries of what is possible.

God’s miracle-making power is now available to us

Our world is now a whole lot more magical.

 

The Apostle Paul writes that the surpassingly

Great power for us who believe,

The hyperballon megathos tes dunameos,

The dynamite power of God available to us on request

Is the same as the power which raised Jesus from the dead.

And so we have the Holy Spirit’s help for the issues of our lives.

Nothing God wants us to do will be impossible to us.

 

And so, we need no longer be enslaved by addictions,

Dependencies and our own bad habits. We can break

An addiction to chocolate or sugar or caffeine

(All of which I have eventually done!).

We can get out of the confining rooms

Of bad habits and our personal “can’t does”

Sometimes just like that,

With an act of will empowered by the Spirit.

The risen Jesus gives us the key to key to freedom.

“I once was dead, but now am alive,

And I hold the keys,” Jesus tells John

In the Book of Revelation. The keys of his Kingdom,

In which he wants us to live peacefully

As we would under his real-life kingly eye.

 

We can find freedom from indulging a bad temper.

And by turning our eyes on Jesus, as the old hymn says,

And an arrow prayer for his help,

We can channel our cranky, negative energy

Into prayerful intense focus on how best to live

Our one wild and precious life.

We can progressively find freedom from tormenting

Emotions or thoughts which waste our time and distract us:

Emotions of jealousy, unforgiveness, worry, anger or fretting.

 

God’s explosive, dynamite power can invade our lives

And progressively change them,

Through prayer, through the power of the Holy Spirit,

And, also, through our own willpower and determination.

(And God also works through counselling,

And talking to wise, trusted, friends.)

 

To get God’s endless energy and boundless strength

(as Eugene Peterson puts it) to saturate our little lives,

We need to slow down,

So that we remember to pray, and

Ask for God’s guidance and blessing

Over each thing we do in course of our days.

As we begin to master this habit,

Our days will look different.

Our lives will look different.

 

Everything in our lives gets better by practice:

Running, or writing, or good housekeeping or prayer.

So, start transforming your life by prayer.

Start small. Ask for God’s wisdom

Before you embark on the activities of your day:

Sessions of housework and decluttering,

Exercise, gardening, meeting friends, emails,

Social media, business or leading things.

 

God, how do I do these things well?

Can I do them better, in a more efficient

Or maybe a kinder way?

Does this even need to be said, or done?

God, who will guide us, likes nothing to be wasted,

Including our time, the most irreplaceable thing in our lives.

You’ll be amazed at the efficient and wise suggestions

The Spirit has, on how to do things

You’ve often done far, far better.

And as we increasingly experience God’s guidance and

Mini-miracles, our faith increases.

 

Practice praying on your walks,

As you do your housework or gardening,

As you drift off to sleep.

Practice praying deep into your life,

And over it, in ever-widening circles.

 

Anything in our lives that we do not

Bathe in prayer is something we believe

We don’t need God’s help to accomplish.

And that is foolish.

So I am training myself to convert

My thoughts into prayer,

To pray through the preoccupations,

Which scurry through my mind,

Writing, work, finances, health, travel plans

The things I want to see happen in my children’s lives

And, also, to pray for my friends and, sometimes, even my enemies.

 

We skitter like water striders on the surface of life.

But if we slowed down, the Spirit would whisper to us

The words which sustain the weary.

Oh, what grace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry,

Everything to God in prayer.

 

Prayer is like pouring this immense flood of light and power

Into the little petri dish of our problems.

When we do it, God’s power can change our circumstances

Sooner than we ever imagined.

As we practice bathing our lives in prayer,

We ourselves change,

Our lives slowly change,

And our faith increases.

Oh God of resurrection,

Come with your dynamite power into our lives.

We put our old dreams and our new ones into your hands.

Bring them to life. Make them glow.

Come like a mighty burst of spring into our lives

Bringing apparently dead relationships, dreams,

The things we once loved,

And all our dormant potential to radiant life.

We put our lives into your hands.

Make them beautiful.

Come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

 

This is a meditation on Matthew 28.

I would love you to read my memoir, fruit of much “blood, sweat, toil and tears.”

Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India in the UK, and in the US, here, well, and widely available, online, worldwide 🙂

If you’d like to follow these meditations the moment they appear, please subscribe to Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or  

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If you’d like to read my previous recorded meditations,

7 The Power of Christ’s Resurrection. For Us. Today

6 Each Individual’s Unique and Transforming Call and Vocation

5 Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts

4 Do not be Afraid–But be as Wise as a Serpent

3 Our Failures are the Cracks Through Which God’s Power Enters our Lives

2 The World is full of the Glory of God

1 Mindfulness is Remembering the Presence of Christ with us.

Thank you 🙂