Mtr Mary Trainor

But …I want the tomb full, like temple or tent —
With the Holy enshrouded in fabric un-rent.
Yes, I want death preserved in sweet-smelling spice;
Not my neighbor perspiring the aroma of Christ.*

Dear friend,

To be sure, we love Easter. This year we’ve had to love it a bit differently, since we have not been able to worship in person since mid-Lent. But Jesus resurrected anyway. Up from the grave he arose, as the old hymn says. And in that rising we find the core of Christian hope: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

I have to be honest. I find a raw authenticity to Easter this year. Something I can’t exactly put into words, but that causes me nonetheless to feel the resurrection more than prior times. In this unadorned Easter I more easily push past the what's-in-it-for-me aspect of resurrection to the less popular what-does-it-ask-of-me aspect. And it asks a lot.

This leads directly to today’s Daily Office Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48. Among Jesus’ tough words for us are these, for me the toughest of all: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.

Yes, I want death preserved in sweet-smelling spice;
Not my neighbor perspiring the aroma of Christ.

In elementary school I was a fighter. Nothing I am particularly proud of. Just the truth. Another girl, let’s call her Marilyn, challenged me in the sixth grade. We were about to exchange blows, but our teacher interceded. As we lined up to go into class, Marilyn turned around, mouthing the words, “I’ll get you after school.”

She never did, but the threat haunted me.

Mercifully, the school year ended soon, and Marilyn’s family moved away. For the next six years, my life was Marilyn-free. But in the last half of my senior year in high school, at a basketball game, someone nudged me, saying, “Isn’t that Marilyn from sixth grade over there?”

I panicked as I looked over and saw my old nemesis.

I was terrified. So imagine my surprise when someone tapped on my shoulder later at the snack bar, and I turned to see a smiling Marilyn, arms outstretched.

I had not changed, but Marilyn had. In my memory she was my enemy. In her memory, I was a friend. I was still stuck in my grave of hate. Marilyn was living the Easter life, willing to embrace the neighbor perspiring the aroma of Christ.

Mtr. Mary

*The Trouble with Easter by Canon Julia McCray-Goldsmith, an Episcopal priest.
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For a good look at the difficulty of loving your enemy, I recommend Crescendo, December 2019, a Menemsha film. I was lucky enough to find a full streaming version. But if you cannot, watch the official U.S. trailer here. Here’s the plot: “A world-famous conductor... accepts the job to create an Israeli-Palestinian youth orchestra…having grown up in a state of war, suppression or constant risk of terrorist attacks, the young musicians from both sides are far from able to form a team.”