By Angie O'GormanEditor's Note: The following reflection is from Coming to Consciousness: Reflections for Lent 2011 by Angie O'Gorman. A publication of Pax Christi USA, Coming to Consciousness can be ordered here.
Because of Easter I know that evil and sin do not have the last word. It doesn’t matter to me anymore if Jesus rose bodily or spiritually or somewhere in between. His followers experienced him as present and in that experience knew they had encountered God. Empowered, they would not let his murder silence his message. Here, I believe, is the fundamental answer to evil: God brings life from death. The infinite heals the finite. Evil and sin do not have the last word, and we participate in that divine evolution.
This does not diminish or deny the suffering caused by the death-dealing horrors around us, horrors in which we freely participate at times. I am simply suggesting that these result from finitude. Evil is a result of the finite in and around us. It says nothing about the infinite. That is the whole point of the resurrection. The infinite draws out life from death, goodness from evil, restoration from devastation. In that fundamental reality is our hope. This is not religious hyperbole. You have experienced it.
Angie O’Gorman’s essays have been published in America magazine, National Catholic Reporter, and Commonweal. She has been involved in human rights work and nonviolent conflict resolution in the United States, Central America, and the West Bank. Her novel, The Book of Sins, was published in January 2010.
See also the previous PCV post:
"You Will See Him" – April 12, 2009.
Image: “Jesus Rises” (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard.
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