I like what Nick Perlas says about the courage to die first, before the new can emerge. Courage to face the darkness of what is dead and what needs to die within us–and with it the necessary terror and uncertainty that we all face alone:
Philippine society is dying. The Filipino soul is sinking. There is massive corruption, poverty, conflict, joblessness, sickness and hopelessness all over the land. Millions are seeking and longing for a very different Philippines, one that is alive, dynamic, progressive, peaceful, just and moral. What is the new going to be based on? Where is the power to create the new going to come from?
This is where Easter comes in. Christ overcame the sting and horror of death, forever. With His victory, we now all have the capacity to overcome what is dead in ourselves, especially our doubts, fears and hatred. Only when we overcome these death forces inside can we have to power to resurrect and create the new outside, in ourselves and in our society. We cannot continue to be the victims of the death forces of the past. We have to access the resurrection forces of the future. Only this Resurrection power can allow us to build a new politics, a new Philippines. But we have to have the courage to die first so that the new can emerge and live. This is the meaning of Easter: the occasion not only to celebrate this power of resurrection within us, but also the occasion to make it real and effective in the world.
– Nicanor Perlas, “Meaning of Easter”
03 April 2010
Happy easter, friends.
To the light at the end of the tunnel.