Approaching Easter: Finding Strength to Bear The Cross
by Dhruva Corrigan
As our term draws to a close and we enter the depths of Holy Week, I find myself pausing to reflect on the recent months. The local seminary endeavor here in Hillsdale has been and continues to be a great adventure. It is an experiment in student initiative and an exercise in the Michaelic impulse of our time: for each of us to take our spiritual formation into our own hands, and consciously and freely apply the forces of our soul to the tasks at hand.
The formation of the seminary program in Hillsdale is a good story. In the depth of winter-darkness, word came from our directors that the “Knowing Christ” and “Walking with Christ” programs would not be able to continue—realities of the material world in a pandemic were insurmountable. But, from within several students, a voice spoke, an annunciation within our souls of a new hope, a new will to take matters into our own hands and create a way forward. Many phone calls and emails followed, and in the midst of the Advent season, Christmas came early: a new light was born, a hope and plan to be able to continue our studies together in Hillsdale with the support of our directors from a distance.
“Black Cross, New Mexico” by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1929.
And a month later, at the end of the Epiphany season, we came together: five students in the “Knowing Christ” program and two students in the “Walking with Christ” program, with the shared goal of continuing a process of formation that we had begun and committed ourselves to in the autumn. We moved through Trinity season worshiping together, studying together, and finding our way through the tides of social life, its joys and its trials. We entered Passiontide, donning for our service the black of the season, and have now come to the end of our winter term. Spring is upon us, and anticipation of the dawn of Easter grows in us.
But before Easter dawns comes a confrontation with the reality of Christ’s death, the reality of the cross. This term’s unique seminary experience brings to mind the words of Christ after revealing to his disciples the fate of the Son of Man: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16: 24-25) As ones who come after Christ, this threefold process of denial, cross-bearing, and following is a picture of our discipleship. We must deny our own lower nature and cultivate our higher, moral nature, which exists in Christ; we must welcome as necessary and medicinal the events of our lives, from the most joyous to, especially, the most painful, as ordered by Christ as the Lord of Karma; and we must turn our wills to following Him to the cross and beyond, and to the serving of His community on earth.
This charge stirs us to feel in our souls the activity of the Archangel Michael, who would lead us to the Christ-power in our own depths. At this time of year, when we see and hear before us on the altar and perceive in the world-heights the activity of Raphael the Healer, we can receive into ourselves the forces of Michael the Warrior of Heaven from within, below, and behind. It is the courage of Michael that can help us to bear witness to the event of Good Friday without turning away. Through his guidance we can grapple with the reality that “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” And, in doing so, we arrive at the reality that Christ is risen, and therefore we can lay ourselves in the grave, trusting in the resurrection through The Risen One.
Three Archangels with Tobias by Francesco Botticini ,1485. (left to right: Michael, Raphael, Tobias, and Gabriel.)
And so it is, in our seminary endeavor. As we bear witness to the realities of the pandemic, and see brought to the forefront in our world the Raphaelic processes of illness and medicine, we feel in our souls the call to a Michaelic task. With the guidance of our directors, the support of each other, and the will to serve Christ and follow Him as he instructed us, we continue to take up the work of forming our seminary program and moving forward in new and unique ways. We move into and through the festival of Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Christ that makes all renewal possible, and we look to the coming months of Spring when we can continue our work, study, and formation together.
About the Author: Dhruva Corrigan is a seminary student living in Hillsdale, NY. He is a former student and instructor of yoga, who now is deepening his relationship to Christ Community and pursuing what it means to follow the Christian path of love and sacramentalism.
This is a blog entry by a student at The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America. These are posted weekly by the student editorial team of Robert Bower, Shannon Young and Faith DiVecchio. For more information about our seminary, see the rest of our website, and for even more weekly podcast and video content check out the seminary patreon page.
The views expressed in this blog entry do not necessarily represent the views of the Seminary, its directors or the Christian Community. They are the sole responsibility of its author.
