see the morning

Saturday night I attended the Easter Vigil at St. Pius X with Amy, Alli and Beth to help welcome Beth's good friend Stephanie into the church. The whole experience was very moving, and I was definitely struck by Fr. Bill's explanation that "easter" is a nautical term meaning "to turn east towards the rising sun." As those about to receive the Easter sacraments turned towards the east -- the place of the sunrise and of the light-- to profess their faith, the word "Easter" took on new meaning for me.

I thought more about this today, and of the connection with one of my favorite CD's "See the Morning", which Chris Tomlin wrote inspired by the idea that God's ongoing work is provoking new beginnings. As he explains,

See The Morning expresses the idea that God's as faithful as the rising sun. Though your life may be shifting all around you and it may be dark, there is hope... morning is an incredible symbol in scripture. Morning is brand new. It's fresh. It's new life. That while the darkness came and was for a while, light is breaking through into morning. That's the hope I want to help people grab with this album.

As he puts so beautifully, and I leave you with on this Easter Monday... "This is life’s resurrection by the hand of God: Dawn always breaks into morning over humanity’s dark night of the soul."

Have a beautiful day today, and a blessed 50 days of Easter.

See the morning!

Alli, Stephanie and me after the Vigil enjoying the snow!!