Forsaken by ikons

We find ourselves in a time of isolation and solitude which Nature has forced on us. For once, at Easter, we face the prospect of the church bells being silent, chancels being dark and thuribles cold.

As I sit saying my daily offices, I am usually surrounded by faces peering down at me from the ikons that are dotted around. But it is Passiontide, so all the ikons are hidden and I face my prayers as if I have been cut off from the hope of Heaven. It is lonely and uncomfortable. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

But this is where the world is now, sitting on its own, deprived of the warmth of companionship. People are dying alone, declared untouchable and not for the first time in our history. We want to help, and we try our best, but the separation is too much for us.

When we first sinned, we cut ourselves off from God. We forsook Him utterly through disobedience and the first degree of hatred of Him. We suffer the consequences of that isolation: we will always be distant to some extent even from the people we love most. Our subjective self is utterly unavailable to anyone else except God, and He has been pushed out because we wanted Him to leave us to ourselves.

The Passion of the Christ is for us - to save us from the complete isolation of Hell. To accomplish this He suffers the same isolation. We cannot even watch with Him one brief hour. He prays, sweat falling like blood, with the faces of His friends turned away and veiled by sleep, fear and ignorance.

He stands isolated before the Pharisees, before Pilate, before the soldiers who strip Him at each turn from the warmth of being a human being and leaving behind a cold and bleeding subhuman. He hangs isolated on His own cross, the World and it's sins upon His shoulders alone. He dies alone and yet surrounded by the crowd. He is buried alone despite knowing the mourning of those who love Him.

The Day of Resurrection brings more instances of being alone. St Mary Magdalene encounters the Risen Lord alone. There is an intimate companionship on the road to Emmaus. The fearful solitude of the locked room is breached by God. No longer do we have to endure a lonely death for someone crosses with us at the most intimate level.

The Church doors may be locked on Easter Day but this is the opportunity for us to receive the Risen Lord bursting in to our lives despite the locked doors. This is the opportunity for the prayers we offer to deepen through the sorrow of the Passion and open up a place within our souls to encounter Jesus alive and warm and in fellowship. 

On Easter Day, I will once again see the eyes of the citizens of Heaven looking at me and reminding me of what God wants for all His Church. We can get there by seeking God even in our isolation. He is there and will be found by all who open the closet of their heart to Him.