2nd reading of Easter Vigil
Gen 22:1-18
Ps 15(16):5,8-11
Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.
Trite phrases like “blessings in disguise” and “every cloud has a silver lining” aren’t particularly effective in the here and now of dealing with life’s crises. Perhaps it is human nature to see things in as positive a light as possible to assuage immediate feelings of pain and suffering.
Even in effervescent moments, I reflect on whether those are divine blessings, or earthly dopamine surges. And even if I could differentiate them cleanly, what difference would it make?
The answer I’ve arrived at is simple — it makes absolutely no difference, because everything is a blessing if you look hard enough. Would I then go so far as to call the coronavirus a blessing? What about climate change? And the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic church?
I would say, yes. Those unfortunate and, sometimes, inevitable events have very difficult outcomes and affect many people, but they also give us opportunities to be Christian. Opportunities for healing, for action, for compassion, for service. They give us fuel for reflection, and motivation to do better.
Brothers and sisters, instead for railing against God for the detours and obstacles in our lives, let’s see them as opportunities to make things on earth just a little bit better for ourselves and for the other pilgrims around us.
(Today’s Oxygen by Anonymous)
Prayer: Dear Father, help us to be receptive to all manner of situations that take place in our lives.
Thanksgiving: We thank you Father for the mystery that is this earthly life.
OXYGEN 
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