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In his book, The Holy Longing, Jesuit priest Ronald Rolheiser challenges us to consider the many death and life cycles that take place within our lives. Every time we start a different job or move to a new place, every time we learn a new skill or shed a bad habit, we are continuing this pattern of life to death to life again. We humans are a part of nature, after all, where caterpillars become butterflies, and trees shed their autumn leaves in order to bud anew in the spring. Everything changes; everything grows. Everything dies and then is re-born in a new way. And we are a part of our God, who as Jesus died and then rose again. His resurrection is the ultimate reminder that death is not forever – and it is nothing to fear. This is part of the “Paschal Mystery” (death to new life) we all all invited to enter. The Pascal Mystery is transformative: We die to ourselves and receive new life in the Holy Spirit.
This message is excerpted from “Our holy longings” by Elise Seyfried in the March/April 2023 Gather magazine. Today is New Year’s Eve.