This Lent I had the blessing of reading M.C. Holbrook’s book of reflections on the daily Mass readings, The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home, Volume I – The Liturgical Season of Lent. The experience was like having a daily session with a well-seasoned spiritual director who knew all of my faults, failings and pitfalls, and more importantly, who knew how to gently, mercifully and lovingly guide me away from them into new life in Christ. Digging into the life of mercy and grace, virtue and human weakness, through the daily Mass readings with Holbrook helped make this Lent both an experience of God’s love, and a season of spiritual growth. It almost makes me regret the passing of Lent into Easter!
Thankfully, Holbrook has recently released Volume II: The Liturgical Season of Easter. Even though it is still Lent, I couldn’t help but read ahead to see how the adventure of daily soul-searching through the Mass readings continues. At the beginning of the volume Holbrook sets the scene:
It is Easter morning. A man, falsely accused of crimes he did not commit, punished by torture and crucifixion at the hands of the enraged and jealous authorities who had incited the crowds into a mob frenzy — as the distraught and despairing disciples hid, cowering in fear, disbelief, and unfathomable grief — has now disappeared from his tomb. How is this explained? How can this be? Did someone roll back the heavy stone in the thick of the night, stealing the body in an attempt to perpetuate a false narrative of a revolutionary new religion, one designed to distort and taint the precious faith and traditions that for centuries, the Jews held dear? And this, all under the watchful eyes of the Roman soldiers who guarded that tomb without pause, to ensure that this very conspired plot did not take place? Impossible. There is just one explanation.
Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
After this heart-racing introduction, the experience of “digging into” our daily Mass readings with a kindly and wise companion continues seamlessly, moving from the heart-wrenching time of compassionating our Lord in his Passion into the time of almost unfathomable confusion and fear of the empty tomb before Jesus appears.
“You want me to praise and thank God — for THIS?? You want me to believe that literally ALL things work for good?? You want me to search in this dark circumstance for a hand of divine providence that I cannot see?? Yes. Yes. And yes. But why must the Father repeat for us this lesson in faith over and over when this is not our first rodeo and we have struggled to praise, to thank, to trust, to seek, to believe before? Why must we go through this again?
“You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence…”
Until the struggle to remain peacefully trusting is no longer a struggle for us — under any circumstance — we will not truly be free. The Father offers us the trials that he handpicks for us not because he wants us tormented, but because he loves us — more than we could possibly know. We are his beloved, the apple of his eye. And if life is a struggle at times, it is a sure sign to us that Jesus is close — snuggled right up against our hearts.
Resting assured that my beloved “spiritual director” has not left me hanging with Lent’s completion, I can now look forward to Easter joy. I am sure this will not be the happiness of a one-day feast of tulips and bunnies, but of the Christian life lived in the dichotomy of joy and sorrow, falling down and getting up again, mercy and grace. With a guide like M.C. Holbrook, I have a new confidence that all is well and all will be well.
Holbrook does not let the reader “off the hook” in a way that denies that sin and the spiritual realm are active in the Christian’s life. What would be the point of that? No, instead she gently reveals the truth of our sinful nature but simultaneously reveals the glorious truths of God’s mercy and his grace. These volumes speak truth with hope, the hope that our God knows what he’s dealing with in fallen human nature, and that he has a plan for it, for each and every one of us, and for each and every person we love and worry about, too. While I would say that mercy and grace are the two biggest themes of these reflections, hope is not far behind. All three are in a setting of love, a love that grows daily as the reader follows along the Mass readings in our liturgical year.
Here’s hoping that M.C. Holbrook continues to provide “spiritual direction” with volumes of The Safe Haven for the remaining seasons in our Church’s year.
Both volumes of Safe Haven carry both the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, giving the reader peace of mind and the freedom to “just read” without concern for picking up information that is contrary to the teachings of the Church. Samples are available to read on Amazon, where the books are sold (see links at titles above).
