As a Catholic, I was taught the tradition of observing Holy Week, the week preceding Easter when we are encouraged to contemplate life in our broken world and our efforts to repair it. We are taught that hope is coming with the miracle of arisen Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. There are many faith traditions that urge us to emulate the life of Christ by caring for each other and working to make the world safer and more just for the poor and disadvantaged. Many Christian faiths have ministries to go out into the world and the do the work inspired by Jesus Christ. In the Jewish tradition, it’s called “Tikkun Olom,” which in Hebrew means “repairing the world.”
In today’s Lent Devotional, a daily email message produced by the Office of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University, Erin Cline, Professor of Theology & Religious Studies and Senior Research Fellow in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs wrote an interesting metaphor for repairing the world in the Japanese art form Kintsugi of mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum.
Cline wrote:
Kintsugi highlights the cracks rather than hiding them; being broken is an event in the life of an object not its end or something to be hidden. And so, repair is an act of creation: as the cracks are filled with precious metal, something new, illumined with light, is created.
On Holy Saturday, we dwell in the brokenness of the suffering, death, and burial of Jesus. We do not cover the cracks nor avert our eyes from the scars. The altar remains stripped bare. The Blessed Virgin Mother is Our Lady of Solitude, our Mater Dolorosa.
Yet Coptic Christians call it the Saturday of Light—a light more precious than any metal. On this night, we read the creation story: God creates, saying, “Let there be light.” When the body of Christ is broken, something new is created. In the tomb, his body is not restored to its previous state. The scars remain. But when Mary Magdalene and the other women approach the tomb, the stone has been rolled away.
Holy Saturday invites us to see the brokenness in our lives not as something to be hidden. Crucifixes and crosses became symbols of Christianity, lifted high, into the light, not hidden or buried as symbols of devastation. How do we view the scars and cracks in ourselves and others? Might our broken places be mended in ways that illumine them and create something new and beautiful? For this is our story: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome the light that illumines our lives.
Recently, we have reported on the efforts of neighbors working to repair our City of Angeles. We salute all of their efforts and invite you to share stories with us of others who doing this good work for our fellow neighbors or our natural habit. We are continually inspired by our neighbors and are delighted to to include their stories on the Buzz. We wish everyone a Happy Easter!
Patty, this is beautifully said. Thank you.
The Holy Week-Easter message and poem are beautiful. Many thanks!
Thanks for this beautiful reflection, Patty. Focusing on the beauty that holds us together….yes!