Easter Message and Online Invitation

Last summer in Rome I stayed at the monastery of Sant' Anselmo on the Aventine Hill. Just a few steps away is the Basilica of Santa Sabina. Whatever you may think a Basilica is like, this isn't it. It is one of the oldest and safe to say the plainest, most simple, almost devoid of décor churches you can imagine. But on its main door is one of the earliest depictions of Jesus' crucifixion, from the fifth century. Unless you knew it was there, you'd probably miss it. And looking at it, it might take you a while to realize what it was.

The cross was important to the early Christians, but Jesus usually was not depicted on it. And if he was, he was usually clothed and not suffering. The cross was his throne. What was always important to keep in mind was the Resurrection. Without that, the cross and Jesus' passion was an embarrassment, an abject failure.

The crucifix as we know it became popular in the middle ages in Europe, when the Black Death swept away almost a third of the population. It was natural for people then to identify with the suffering of Jesus and the corpus on crucifix let them know they were not alone in their suffering.

I couldn't help thinking of this as we look forward to celebrating the Resurrection while participating in the liturgies of this Holy Week, in this sure to be memorable "Pandemic Year." It's not the Black Death but it's the worst plague the world has seen since 1918, and it has touched every people and nation. We are told to expect up to 200,000 deaths here in the U.S. But there will be an end to it. Life will return to some state of normalcy that will likely be somewhat different from what we knew prior to March 2020.

So in many ways we too can identify with Jesus' passion and death, but we must more importantly identify with His resurrection. That is the goal of our life, the meaning of our faith, the gift God promises inside and outside of pandemics. The crucifix stands above our altars and on the walls of our homes, but we are an Easter people, an Easter church, a resurrection people. God is with us.

I have to remember that as I look around our campus these days, a campus usually vibrantly alive with happy and exuberant young people. To say it seems dead around here is not an overstatement.

We will celebrate Easter in the Abbey Church, empty of people. But it will not really be empty. You will be there, in our thoughts, in our prayers and our hearts. We will celebrate this Easter for ourselves and for you, knowing that you will return. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. That's part of our faith too. God's apparent social distancing motivates us to seek Him more.

You can be with us there in spirit. We invite you to join us for the Triduum and Easter liturgies on our website, https://portsmouthabbeymonastery.org/, where they will be live-streamed on this schedule:
   
We pray for your health and safety, and that this trial be over soon. We know that God can bring great good from such trials, so we pray that from this we all learn to trust God more, appreciate each other more, and to pay more attention and give more time to what is truly important.
In the Book of Exodus, we read that God gave Moses precise instruction on how the priests must bless the people. This year our Holy Week coincides with Passover, when in synagogues around the world descendants of the first priest Aaron pronounce that blessing upon their people. I would be foolish to think I could improve on that.

So we monks pray…
The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!                                                           Numbers 6:24-26

And have a very joyful Easter with those you love. The Lord has risen. Really and truly, He is risen. And so will we.
 
For all the monks,
Prior Michael G. Brunner, O.S.B.