Official summertime begins this Easter Sunday as clocks advance to remind of longer and warmer days that beckon.
Deep within the mothering earth we know that something is stirring in the seeds of tiny hope that dreamers around the world plant every spring in overturned soil. Every spring their hopes press against impossible odds and blossom. God is a sower too. Holy Week 2002 began with March 25th the day when we annually mark God placing the seed of his own self in the fertile womb of a Jewish girl. Today we mark the flowering of that seed at Easter.
Visitors to a Hamburg graveyard in Germany can see an old grave. Its’ occupant did not believe in the resurrection and just to make sure that they did not take part in one, stipulated that the grave slab be chained down by iron. Also chained down unknowingly was the seed of a tree. Relentlessly it strained for light and growth and today you witness a grave slab split apart by a thrusting tree.
For a moment, it seemed like the Christ seed was entombed and stuck at Calvary, a rock too big to budge. But no! The seed of God stirred, shoved, and sprouted. The ground trembled, and the rock of the tomb tumbled. And the flower of Easter blossomed. Never underestimate the power of a seed, nor the impact for good or ill of your deeds (however small) this Easter Day.
(Comments to Tom at tomascox@eircom.net )