April 11, 2022, 1:38 PM

The door creaks.  It’s 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon.  A thin man still dressed in his winter jacket holds the door open with his one hand while maneuvering his wheelchair through the doorway with the other.  The wheelchair retracts as he catches the small wheels in the door frame.  A voice shouts out, “Hey, Frank.  Need help?”  His reply, “No, I got it.  Great day, isn’t it?  One cup of hot coffee, please.” 

Frank lives next to a Starbuck’s Plaza in a senior living facility.  He has been unable to walk after having a series of strokes at age 87, but his feet still work.  Using his toes, he pulls his wheelchair alone up the path from the retirement home to the door of the coffee shop. 

Frank likes the coffee better at the coffee shop than what is served at the home.  He also says that the service is better – much better than waiting an hour for lunch.  Unlike most people, Frank doesn’t complain.  He says the workers at the retirement home are overworked and underpaid.  His response to his situation is, “I try to be kind to people no matter what.”

Frank has already seen the resurrection. 

Christ teaches us that the resurrection is not simply a future event.  Like Frank, the resurrection is with us each day.  There is no waiting.  Resurrection is ongoing because of Christ.  Christ has shown us how to have “new eyes,” and to see the world differently – as it really is.  As Isaiah proclaims, “See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19)   Our being from birth to death is filled with the constant, overflowing, and never ceasing love from God. 

So, what is our inability to see things through God’s eyes?  The answer may be that a change in perspective is most frequently found in the quiet, silence of contemplative prayer as Jesus taught.   Lent gives us a wonderful opportunity to pray.  Easter is simply the glorious culmination of God’s loving affirmation of those prayers.   

Many blessings on this year’s Easter Day,

Fr. John Meulendyk