Happy Easter!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Dayenu

If the Lord had merely rescued us, but had not punished the Egyptians, it would have been enough.
If He had only destroyed their gods, but had not parted the Red Sea, it would have been enough.
If He had only destroyed our enemies, but had not fed us His food in the desert, it would have been enough.
If He had only led us through the desert, but had not given us his holy day of rest, it would have been enough.
If He had only given us His Words and Commandments, but not a Promised Land forever, it would have been enough.


It would have been enough - these words are probably my favorite part of the Seder meal. Those words hold the memory of all God has done for us and the promise of all that He will do. God owes us nothing; had He done no more than create us, it would have been more than we could ask, and certainly enough. This recitation begins with the reason for the meal, the night when the Isrealites were rescued from Egypt. God did not need to do more than that, yet on their journey He continued to give to them so many other blessings. Today we remember how He suffered and died for our sins; let us also remember how often He has blessed each of us since.

It would have been enough. For each of the blessings we have received in our own lives, we should be able to be grateful, to be content with what we have. Any one of them would have been enough; even the first was more than God was required to give, and each blessing, whatever it may be, is such a huge and amazing gift. Each one would have been enough; how much more wonderful, then, that God has blessed us not just once but a multitude of times.

It would have been enough. As we recognize how many times God has gone beyond "enough," these words remind us that God will not abandon us. His blessings will not stop. Each time we proclaim that it would have been enough, we are reminded that His love for us did not end, and will not end now. We can look forward to each future blessing we will recieve and trust that He will not abandon us, for just as He did not stop after the first gift, so He will not stop now, though everything we have recieved so far would have been enough.

This Night

*Why is this night different from all other nights?

I wanted last year to do a series of posts on the Seder meal. I'm starting late this year too, but hopefully I'll get a couple in. This particular start is one of the questions asked by the youngest child during a Seder meal, the meal that would have been happening on Holy Thursday, which is now replaced by the Eucharist.

On this night we wait in the Garden of Gethsemane. Before the sun sets again, God will have died. He will have been through more trials than most people can imagine, solely for our benefit. The sins of the whole world, past, present, and future, will be wiped away by the blood that is shed before the next night comes.

Before, there was a less complete salvation given to the Israelites, through the blood of a lamb spread on doorposts this night. Now there is the Lamb who dies for our guilt, our sins. This night is different because the price of our transgressions is paid. No other night will ever match the gift we have been given in this nor the love that has been shown. That is why this night is different. This night, unlike all other nights, we will be saved.


*I meant to post this much earlier in the day. When I realised I couldn't do that after work, I meant to post it immediately after Mass. I had this brilliant plan how I was going to write the post, do some grocery shopping, take groceries back to the house, get back to the chapel for the last half hour before Jesus dissapeared. Amazing how easily all that changes with just a phone call. Particularly from someone important. Particularly if that someone important wants to hang out.

The Donkey

I posted this same thing last year, but I love the poem.

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

-- G. K. Chesterton

A Desperate Plea For Help

I've had my eye on a treasure chest for a long time. There's a particular store nearby where I once spotted an entire shelf full of them, and have periodically gone back just to stare at them since. (There was a suit of armor as well, but that doesn't fit into this story.)

In the past week I finally decided that it was time to purchase my treasure chest. I refrained from doing so in the past due to the cost and the lack of actual necessity. However, I've been adding to my abilities and therefor material "needs" as I grow older, while not significantly increasing the space I have available to me. By which I mean that I'm trying to live entirely out of one single room in a house.

This room started out as a bedroom. Then it was turned into a movie theatre as well. Sometime afterward, I added an office. It now sports a kitchen crammed entirely onto the top and one shelf of a desk, a music room stuffed behind the door, a gift shop hidden mostly in a dresser, an at-home school spread across the floor, and a book store neatly jammed into the closet. My bookshelves for my own non-sale books are quickly overflowing such that piles are stacked around it, I have pictures and papers and uncounted important documents practically floating through the air, and my collection of school supplies grows almost daily (I'm afraid it's breeding).

I decided that an additional means of organizing was now a need rather than a want, unless losing my mind fell under a different list of wants. And a treasure chest might as well be part of that means, a much better option than spending my money on stacks of Rubbermaid containers that I would get rid of again at the first possible chance. The chest would be large enough to stick either books or school supplies in; with one taken care of, I could later deal with the other, and adding a couple smaller containers I'd be all set.

Wouldn't you know it? I've been watching for months, just waiting for my chance. And today, the chests are ALL GONE. Every last one of them. I found a few smaller boxes, and things that vaguely resembled treasure chests but without the proper lid and (lack of) decoration, but not a single large and perfect treasure chest. I'm heartbroken. I got some very neat smaller boxes to get me started, but there's an empty hole on the wall of my room where my pride and joy should be. (The suits of armor are gone as well, though I was not expecting to buy one today.)

So if anyone knows of a location currently selling large containers resembling a pirate's treasure chest, let me know. It seems I'm in the market.