Will There Be a Happy Ending?

A week into this new year, and today is the Feast of the Epiphany. But we look around and there seems nothing new. Death and destruction, abuse and abominations still abound in the world. There was no epiphany, no awakening in Iraq, or Darfur, or on the streets of our major cities. When we look at the world at large, we see guns are still in angry hands, the powerful still prey on the weak, and fear is still in our hearts. Despite our efforts, sickness still riddles the broken body of humanity.

Is this life just a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," as Shakespeare once pondered through his character MacBeth? Can we ever escape from our own mortal weakness? Be set free finally from the tyranny and terror of ourselves?

Despite all the lies and the heartache and the pain, I believe we still deep down want the fairy tale to come true. We know in our hearts that something is wrong in the universe that should be right. But our minds take in all the reports, the news of the day and the crushing ennui experienced by so many.... and we wonder, "Is there a meaning to this life? Is there a plan?" And not a plan that we put into it. But a point to it all that's written by another pen, not our own, by the Author of this tale that seems to us so often a bitter tragedy.

This morning as I sat in my "prayer chair" with a cup of coffee, morning light came through the window and it splashed onto a page of my prayer book. These are the words the light illuminated:

"Today the Bridegroom claims his bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her sins away in Jordan's waters; the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal wedding; and the wedding guests rejoice, for Christ has changed water into wine, alleluia."

Do I believe in fairy tales? Do I believe in the happy ending? Absolutely. Hold out until the end. It is always darkest before the dawn!


From the Feast of the Epiphany, Closing Prayer
"Father of light, unchanging God, today you reveal to men of faith the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh. Your light is strong, your love is near; draw us beyond the limits which this world imposes, to the life where your Spirit makes all life complete. We ask this through Christ our Lord."