Good morning…
“Sue, I’m sorry so much tragedy has visited you, your family, and so many other people you love,” a subscriber wrote yesterday. “Your post today brought to mind the Pieta, the amazing sculpture by Michelangelo in St. Peter’s Basilica. I’ve seen it three times, and on each occasion the rendering of Mary holding Jesus’s body caused tears to flow. It’s such a beautiful reminder that the terrible sadness of death is tempered by the sure knowledge that it is not the end. Thanks be to God for the gift of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord!”
I googled “Pieta” and up popped a fascinating video. As we think back over the week of posts we have experienced together, might we savor this intimate video on this holy Sabbath, sensing the suffering and the surrender placing us personally on God’s pathway to peace?
Before surrendering completely, Jesus predicted his death to his closest friends: Then fix this firmly in your minds: You’re going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You’ll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness. When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions (John 16:20-23, MSG).
…Sue…
