Blog - Blogue
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Easter
lundi 06 avril 2020
Strange times. Many people are closed off. For some, it feels as a long – too long – sojourn in a crypt! Strange times, when it feels more like an unduly prolonged Good Friday and an unending Holy Saturday than the enchantment of a joyful Easter Sunday! Strange times when hopes get shattered, project trashed and relationships dissolved… All this because of a virus and its effects on human bodies and worlds.
Strange times, indeed when human creativity and capacity for innovation is challenged in new ways so that communications be maintained, new projects and associations fostered, rejuvenated relationship flourishing. All this because of a virus. “Felix culpa”…
Strange times to sing “halleluia” and hope for life! Maybe not that strange. Maybe it is in times like this that the profound meaning of the Easter faith and of the liturgical practices incarnating it can emerge… Suffering and death do not have the last word.. ought not to be given a chance to be the last events for humanity!
In any case, it is in these, our times, that we continue to think, reflect, in philosophy and theology on the meaning of life, looking out for what in discourses and practices fosters fake news, dangerous egoistic practices, anguish and despair… also looking out for emerging worlds thanks to untapped human capabilities… I wish you, in this Eastertide, fruitful last few days of this semester!
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Merry Christmas!
vendredi 21 décembre 2018
Merry Christmas!
I’m told that this is the traditional English wish. But, before using it, I thought I should know what I’m saying. Especially since “merry” is not a common word nowadays. When we’re taught English, it barely comes up. We’re told to use it for Christmas and little else, except for some wives from Windsor or for an Austro-Hungarian widow (if you’re into opera).
“Merry” means “pleasing, agreeable, pleasant, sweet”, usually accompanied with a sense of it being short-lasting. If this is so, I wish you a pleasant and agreeable Christmas.
But I also wish that it lasts. Who wants something as joyful as Christmas to just be a fleeting moment? Who, aside from store owners looking forward to a long boxing-day?! Liturgists, on the other hand, want Christmas to last. So much so that this “merry Christmas” is extended until Epiphany in the liturgical calendar… and some would say as far as the Baptism of Christ. I like their attitude.
So, a Merry Christmas to you. A sense of what Christmas is about that lasts in your lives or that gives you a sense of eternity!
And, if it doesn’t last, don’t worry. There will be another one in 2019! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!