Nothing Is Lost…

Easter 2008
As I feel the warmth of this 23 March 2008 sun, I ponder at how early Easter occurs this year. The Easter Vigil is less than 5 hours from now. Time again for a new beginning… a rebirth in our Lord’s saving act fulfilled in His resurrection.

And yet, I am always fighting to let go. Perhaps Noel Coward captured the essence of that struggle in “Nothing Is Lost” waiting, as he says, for:

some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when, innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.

An “echo from the past when, innocent”… we saw the world with uncluttered vision. When we approach these times of great joy, like today’s Easter Vigil, we are called to remove that clutter. Without a fresh outlook, unencumbered by our past, how can we be truly open to the marvel of the mystery? As Richard Rohr calls it, a state of “constantly renewed immediacy” is what we need to connect with God. Like the mind of an innocent, curious child, we can approach the celebration–captured in the Gospel message–and truly experience the joy of biblical revelation.

Nothing is lost… perhaps not. But perhaps in letting go… recapturing that innocence for just a moment… something is gained!

References
“Nothing Is Lost” by Noel Coward
(from Noel Coward Collected Verse. © Methuen Publishing, Ltd., 2000)

Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.
© 2008 (St. Anthony Messenger Press)