Fr Bonnie Inspirations

Rev. Fr. Bonnie Nkem Anusiem Ph.D.

Dearest gracious and risen Lord,

Welcome back! It is barely three days now, and it seems you were long gone. The glory of your rising from the dead replaces the agony of the cross. The Easter joy diminishes the pain of Good Friday. Precious Lord, your last words on the cross, “it is finished!” (John 19:30), comes alive again. The pain and suffering are gone, and the matter “is finished.” A new reality dawns.

My heart is full of songs. The Psalmist could have referred to this day when he said: “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

Risen Lord, I can only think of Franny Crosby and Phoebe Knapp’s timeless “Blessed Assurance.” I hope you don’t mind if I sing a few lines to you:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. (Refrain)

I wish it could just be songs of praise and worship to you, my triumphant King, as words would be insufficient to articulate the sufficiency of the liberation your death and resurrection brought to humanity.

Lord, this is the sequel to my first letter to you when you entered Jerusalem to suffer and die for my sins. Remember that I promised to write again, and this time my joy is immeasurable as I connect to the moving images of your victorious resurrection. Pardon me once more; I will ask you some questions.

Please, Lord, what happened when you died? Were you conscious of the separation of your spirit from your body? Thanks to the First Letter of Peter (1 Pet. 3:19-20) that relates to us that alive in spirit, you traveled to hades to minister to the spirit in prison. So, you did not just die to save the living but also the dead; alive or dead, we belong to you (Romans14:8).

The big thing is your resurrection, dear Lord; how did it happen? First, Matthew (27:62-28:2-4) tells us that soldiers were planted around the tomb to stop you from rising. Then, however, there was an earthquake at the very hour of your glorious resurrection, and the soldiers were rendered powerless like dead men.

Lord, I know that nobody can battle with you and survive because you own the battle (1 Sam. 17:47; 2 Chron. 20:15). Your resurrection was a promise kept. In the light of the Gospel of John (2:19), you said: “destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

But Lord, what happened to the scourged body with severe wounds from your head to the lowest part of your body? What happened to the deep wounds made by the scourging and the crown of thorns?

At the resurrection, your body had no single bloodstain; otherwise, Mary Magdalene could have recognized you at first sight and not mistaken you as the gardener (John 20:11,15). Though she was also right in another way because you are the gardener of our souls; in fact, you just finished a major gardening work for us.

Why did you retain only the nail marks on your palms and legs and the lance marks at your side? Was it only to convince Thomas and the other disciples or tell us not to be ashamed of the scars of wounds we get on our journey to you as report cards of our Christian commitment?

Why did you suddenly become elusive, appearing and disappearing after rising from the dead? What changed, Lord? But you proved that you were not a ghost when you ate the broiled fish in your disciples’ presence after the Emmaus travelers’ report (Luke 24:42-43).

My victorious Lord, beyond any doubt, you conquered death and the grave, and in addition, you gave us victory (1Cor.15:55-57). I am delighted to know that what happened on the cross was not just an empty drama. St. Paul would say that our hope would be futile if you did not rise from the dead, and we will still be in our sins (1Cor.15:17).

Thank you, Lord, for the great hope your resurrection brings to us. It is an enduring proof that you fully paid the debt due to our sins. The Psalmist once asked, “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?”

In connection with the resurrection, I would say, Lord, I pledge to repay your goodness by living a resurrected life; that is, a life that seeks things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father (Col. 3:1). I cannot have a resurrected Lord while living a descended life.

Gracious Lord, may your resurrection bring to life all the dead conditions and situations in my life. As death and the tomb could not hold you, may nothing limit or withhold me from the desirable elevation in my life. Thank you for saving me, Lord. I believe as you have risen, I rise too!

Your servant,

Fr. Bonnie.