Ingrid and I talk often, maybe a bit more now that she has moved clear across the country and in a different time zone. Because we still work for the same company, we use our chat and check in with each other every day, if only to say hi and save our longer discussions for after work on our private phones. (Although someone told me your cell phone listens to you and then brings up ads and other infomercials according to your usage, however I digress….
These days our conversations are like most everyone; checking in on each other’s health, our friends and family, pets and comparing notes as to what is happening on the East coast versus the West coast and of course, complaining a bit about work, though always quick to say we are very thankful that we still have jobs and paychecks.
Last week, Ingrid told me about a woman from Spain, Nube de Maria (Cloud of Mary) who was on a public television show Christmas eve 2019 and predicted the Coronavirus with eerie detail. I asked if she had said how long it would last and Ingrid mentioned about 40 days, 40 days from when it starts with you. A bit longer than a month but the number 40 stuck in my head and I immediately started getting hit with 40 days in the desert, 40 years out in the desert, straight from my Catholic upbringing, and went to explore those two stories further. I also noted that this week starts the holy observance of Passover, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. One a celebration of liberation and the other two a somber acknowledgement of sacrifice.
For those that know me, you know that I am not a practicing Catholic, but that does not mean I discount the stories and symbols that were drawn in that light. And so I continued to follow my thoughts and so ask that you continue along with me …..
Passover began on April 8 and is observed for 8 days. “It is a celebration of spring, new birth and rebirth, a journey of slavery to freedom and taking responsibility for yourself, the community and the world.” Hmmmmmm
Good Friday - a somber reflection honoring suffering and death, the day that Christ was flogged down to his very bone, mocked with a crown of thorns, forced to carry his own cross, and then crucified for all of humanity. Hmmmmmm
Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday is the day that Jesus arose from the dead, letting us all know that we never truly die and giving further proof of the divine.
Forty days and nights in the desert was the Spiritual Battle story of Christ being led by the Holy Spirit to the Judean desert, where he was tempted by Satan and used the Scriptures (Words of God) to refuse him. Satan finally gave up and Jesus returned to Galilee to begin his ministry. It is said that this story represents the two natures of Christ; divine and human. “Temptation was recognition of his human nature and it was in his humanity that he walked, talked, grew and ultimately was crucified for us”.
Moses led God’s people, the children of Israel out of slavery and into the desert, a place of testing and preparation, where they wandered for 40 years as a result of their unwillingness to take the land.
I can see so many correlations to our current day events and the stories and meanings this holy weekend brings to the forefront. So while the world is wearing her crown of thorns and we are confined to our desert oasis, being tested and asked to refuse temptation to return to what we knew, I hope when we are able to go back out into the world at large and reclaim our land, it is with great humanity, humility, growth and wisdom.
