Lenten Reflection: Endings
12 Mar 2024
There are times when we would like to skip to the end. When the suspense in a movie is too much, when we want to see who ends up with whom, when the fictional or real-life challenges being faced are too difficult, there can be temptation to jump to the finish. Four years ago when, on this date, the lockdown due to the pandemic started and we had no idea how everything would be, many of us certainly would have wanted to know already how everything would turn out. Of course that’s not what happened and for several, too many, months, we struggled in uncertainty.
As what that period in our individual and collective history showed, we can never be sure how life will be and what surprise – good or bad – it will churn out. Now, even as those moments of long lines in markets, innovative online activities and gatherings, heartbreaking losses, and unprecedented acts of compassion may seem far behind us, we still cannot see if the effects of what happened are over. Is anything ever really concluded? Are endings really the end? Would the past really be in the past?
In all the starts and stops we encounter in this journey, every beginning and end we go through, there is one story with a consistent narrative. It starts from love. It stops at nothing but love. It begins and ends in love. There is no suspense, we are assured with whom we will end up and there are no challenges, not even death, too difficult to overcome. These days would be a good time to return to that story and relish it once more. Do you believe in the story of Jesus, that it is one of love for us? How have you experienced God’s salvation in the ups and downs of life? What end do you see and can you see it with the Lord?
May mga pagkakataong nais na nating lumaktaw patungo sa dulo. Kapag sobra na ang kaba sa nangyayari sa isang pelikula, kapag gusto na nating makita sino ang magkakatuluyan, kapag masyado nang mahirap ang mga hamong kathang-isip o iyong mga nasa tunay na buhay, nakakatuksong tumalon na sa katapusan. Sa araw na ito apat na taon na ang nakalilipas, nang magsimula ang mga lockdown dahil sa pandemya at wala tayong anumang hinagap kung anong mangyayari, tiyak na marami sa atin ang nagnais na makita na ang kahahantungan ng lahat. Subalit hindi iyon ang nangyari at nakipagbuno tayo sa kawalang-katiyakan ng ilang buwan, napakaraming buwan.
Ipinakita ng panahong iyon sa ating indibidwal at kolektibong kasaysayan na hindi natin matitiyak ang buhay at ang mga sorpresa – mabuti man o hindi – na ipagkakaloob nito. Ngayon, kahit pa tila malayo na iyong mga araw ng mahahabang pila sa bilihan, mga malikhaing gawain at pagtitipong online, mga masasakit na kawalan, at mga di-mapapantayang pagkilos ng malasakit, hindi pa rin natin batid kung tapos na nga ba talaga ang mga dulot ng nangyari. Natatapos nga ba ang lahat? Ang wakas ba ay tunay ngang kawakasan? Nasa nakalipas nga lang ba ang mga lumipas na?
Sa lahat ng pag-uumpisa at paghinto na dinaranas natin dito sa paglalakbay, sa bawat simula at wakas na pinagdaraanan natin, may isang salaysay na hindi nagbabago. Nag-umpisa ito mula sa pag-ibig. Wala itong hinihintuan kung hindi pag-ibig. Nagsisimula at nagwawakas ito nang may pag-ibig. Walang kaba, tinitiyak tayo sa kung sino ang ating makakatuluyan at walang hamon, kahit pa kamatayan, na hindi malalampasan. Mabuting panahon itong mga araw upang balikan at namnaming muli itong istorya. Naniniwala ka ba sa kwento ni Hesus, na ito ay kuwento ng pag-ibig para sa atin? Paano mo nararanasan ang kaligtasan ng Diyos sa daloy ng buhay? Anong wakas ang tinatanaw mo at nasisilayan mo ba ito sa piling ng Panginoon?
#aihlentenreflections #ateneoishome
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