Troubadour Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George + April 2015
SEIZED BY LOVE “in season” all the time – these experiences have tamed life for most of us. We feel very much in control of life. But does control make us happy? Catholic author, Walker Percy, tells us that man feels most alive when he is confronted with the question of the meaning of his life. He further states that this does not happen when he is comfortable, but when he faces circumstances that he cannot control. This tells us something about man. Fulfillment is not found in exercising dominion, but in an exchange of love. An essential part of this exchange of love is the experience of surprise – that sudden jolt of the unexpected or the quiet delight that steals into the heart when one is not looking. The word “surprise” means to be seized or overtaken. We resemble God in our capacity to be surprised because it means that we are open to others, open to a giving and receiving that has the potential for bringing something new into the world. by Mother M. Maximilia I was a first semester senior in college when I turned twenty-one years old. I remember the day vividly because my father showed up on the doorstep of the residence hall with a vase of red roses. He had come unannounced and unexpected. As I stood face-to-face with my father and the riot of red blooms between us, I was awed by the love that had moved him to travel great distances to deliver a bouquet of flowers that would last but a few days. At that moment I felt seized by something that transcended us both. We live in a world that offers us the illusion of being in control. Seemingly unlimited access to news and communication, choices galore when making the simplest grocery purchases, and a global market that makes the most exotic items
What about those roses I received many years ago? What seized me then? A father’s love and, in this love, the Father Himself. This month we celebrate the great Solemnity of Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord! The disciples were seized by the sheer wonder of Christ’s return, not as a biological fact, but as the event in which their hopes and dreams were saved. Do not be afraid! Blessed Easter!