The Gospel gives us a number of accounts where Jesus meets the disciples after the resurrection. The response of surprise, fear, initial lack of recognition and then subsequent ‘aha! moment’ of recognition are quite common. They did not expect the empty grave, they did not expect to meet Jesus again, not so soon; even though He told them about it, they could not understand. And who could blame them, they were grieving. After the night seems long, the light of the dawn will come as a surprise and our eyes will need to get used to it. I have never experienced the polar night, when night or twilight lasts for days or months on end, but I presume that in the hearts and minds of those who loved Jesus, the news of the resurrection must have been somewhat like a new dawn after a very long polar night. 

I think each of the encounters where we read that Jesus meets his disciples, both women and men, are beautiful in their own way. They portray how for us on the human level taking in the story of resurrection is going to be a process. Maybe that is why the Church gives us fifty days of the Easter season to journey with the risen Lord, to get accustomed to this new reality of life, and to hopefully let this reality transform us ever so little year after year. 

What is your favourite resurrection story? I would encourage each of us to spend some time with that story, by reading it a few times, pondering on it, and taking time to prayerfully imagine our own place in the story. What would Jesus tell you, and me, if He came to us today? The risen Jesus sometimes met the disciples behind the closed doors, so if He chose to do the same to us what insight would that bring us? I will not answer those questions, for they can only be answered in the silence of our hearts, but I do wish us all that Jesus may encounter us in a new way this Eastertide, bringing us new life, filled with peace and hope. 

Happy Easter to you All on behalf of the Church’s Ministry of Healing: Ireland!

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland

At the beginning of our Lenten journey some of us stopped singing Alleluia, from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday; in our churches, at least. Lent reminds us of experiences in life that challenge us, I will call them ‘desert experiences’, through which desert areas of our hearts get exposed too. I think one of the reasons why we don’t sing Alleluia is that it is a bit hard to sing Alleluia in the desert or while going through a desert experience. Maybe we need to start with a less demanding, or at least a bit less joyful song. Perhaps in the silence that Lent provides, silence from words we often utter without pondering on their meaning, Alleluia might start to shape and deepen within us.

Yet there may be another reason why we fast from Alleluia. My little computer dictionary provides two meanings for Alleluia. It is “used to express praise or thanks to God”, but is also “used to express relief, welcome, or gratitude”. Are we really ready to sing Alleluia in the desert places, in all those experiences that break our hearts?! We need not only Lent, but more so the Holy Week to do their deep healing work in us before we can express relief and gratitude from within the exiled parts of our life. We need to let the wisdom of the desert to help us befriend the deserts we carry inside; otherwise our praises will be superficial. We need to let the fresh blossoms on the trees to slowly lead the way before our inner desert places are ready to blossom and sing. Alleluia has to rise out of the deep silence of our greatest sadness, only then it will be truly real. 

It takes time for the deepest sadness to be able to sing, time and healing, so perhaps it is good we fast from singing Alleluia for a while. Do you have something that you would call ‘your greatest sadness’? These are the days when we can bring that to Jesus during the liturgies of the Holy Week. I think it is helpful to think what we wish to bring to the Last Supper, into the first experience of the Eucharist, and into the Garden where Jesus asks His friends to pray with Him. It is good to reflect what we wish to bring to the way of the Cross, to the Golgotha where Jesus died and in the grave with Jesus. Then we will know how to wait in the silence of the Holy Saturday in which God seemed silent. Then we will know what in us has to die, so that we may rise with Him already in this life. I think if we approach the Holy Week in this way, our journey through it can be quite healing.

When we are aware of God’s presence on our journey and when we let God take our interior exiled places through the pain of the Good Friday, into the silence of the Holy Saturday, towards the Resurrection, we join our deepest sadness with His, so that He can join His deepest joy with us. Only then will our inner desert be able to exclaim on Easter Sunday the joy that empty grave brings, only then will our deepest sadness sing.

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland

We are just at the start of the New Year, which can be a good time to examine what our hopes for the coming year are, and what we learned or gained in the past year. Every ending is a new beginning, so now we have a chance of a new beginning. In Genesis we read “in the beginning God created heaven and earth”; so we can be sure that God is present in our beginnings too. Think now for a moment, what hope have you for this year? Is there a situation where you need to ask God for help and healing?

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3) When we invite God into our reality, when we become aware of His presence with us, light appears. It is good to remind ourselves that we do not go on this journey into a new year alone, Jesus accompanies us.

Recently we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. With our baptism we claimed our belonging to a community of faith, and perhaps Jesus with His baptism affirms that He is one of us; in a way whatever He is doing, it is to show us that He came to bring us life, and a new beginning. In the Gospel of Mark we read: “And just as [Jesus] was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’.” (Mark 1:10-11) 

Jesus mirrors to us who we are as well. Each one of us is a beloved of God. It is much easier to embark on this journey of life knowing God is on our side. Maybe you have been crying out to God about a situation in your life, asking healing, asking help, maybe you are finding it hard at the moment. If you have, I hope that the words of Jean Vanier will bring you some encouragement, perhaps even some hope: 

In order “to be cured one needs to be rid of one’s disease. 
But to be healed one needs to learn how to live well with it. 
Healing has to do with finding health in the midst of illness. 
Healing has to do with finding wholeness, inner beauty, unity and peace.” 
(Jean Vanier)

I wish you a wellspring of God’s goodness to accompany you this year.

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland

time is drawing near
when darkness shall be pierced by a new dawn
so there will be stars all over the sky
even in the darkest nights

Then, when heaven will meet the earth
time will go in reverse
not to back or forth
but within,
and eternity will be soaked into the 
pores of the earth’s skin.
It will shine from the centre of the globe for
God will be born
in the cradle of frailty and love

Yes, this humble epiphany
happened in Palestine two thousand years ago,
but now, the eternity is knocking again
from within your heart
wanting to be born like a flower
out of the depths of
your darkest nights

time is drawing near,
in fact it is almost here
when light of the dawn will crown each day
and heaven will sing us a love-song
as sun colours the sky every morning,
every night

Then, in the chambers of our heart
we will find a diamond
long forgotten and lost
not a diamond from the ring,
but the one that holds the essence
of who we are

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland