REFLECTION
In death, Jesus waits on the Father for deliverance.
He waits in a love that does not deny
death and suffering,
but accepts it on the path back to the Father.
That waiting is active, not passive;
in fact, Christ is most creative when he is on the cross.
That dying, death, and entombment draw out
into the open all the pain and malice
of a betrayal creation.
There it encounters the constant love of God,
who does not shrink from this horror.
In that embrace Jesus dies;
in that embrace creation is renewed.
In the patience of Christ on the cross
we discover the patience of the Father,
whose gift is time
and the open door in every moment of time to the fullness of life.
Christ’s descent into hell is a manifestation of that gift.
It is the Father’s desire that nothing and on one,
in no moment of creation, be lost – not even
what seems irredeemable,
not even what is trapped in hell.
Monty Williams, SJ
The gift of Spiritual Intimacy