Dear friends,
It's been a week of deep questions in my home, and maybe in yours, as well.
Our current homeschool theme is astrophysics, and everything we learn brings a big question: What's beyond the universe? What was before the universe? Why don't we know, and will we ever know? (And I thought we'd just be painting foam balls to look like Mars and Jupiter, and maybe watching a little Nova.)
And, of course, it is Holy Week. My littlest is asking the hard and deep questions of theology: Why did Jesus have to die? Why did God bring him back to life? What does this all have to do with forgiveness, and how am I involved?
One of the things I love (and yes, fear) about children and faith formation is that they dig deep into "church speak"--those phrases we've learned to explain God, Jesus, atonement, and everything about this week. Children hear that Christ died for our sins; in the cross, we are forgiven; and we rise to new life with the risen Christ. Then children will look you right in the eye and ask What's that mean exactly?, How does that work?, and Why??
Here are some often-spoken words in my house: "I don't know. But here is what I do know."
I don't know why the laws of the universe are what they are, or what's beyond the farthest galaxies. I don't know why God made the plans God made or what, exactly and concretely, all these metaphors mean.
I don't know, but here's what I do know. I know God's incredible, intimate, and faithful love. I know God's goodness and holiness. And I know that God's incredible plan for being with us, eternally, involved the carrying of burdens; suffering; forgiving; grace; surprise; and mystery.
What, how, and why? There are a lot of mysteries in faith. There are a lot of mysteries in the universe. But mysteries don't make anything less true or less real. I pray that through the Triduum you and your children will pray, search, find, feel, perceive, and walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, as we proclaim the great mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Happy Easter.
Bryn
