As a child, I loved the story of Sleeping Beauty. There were fairies and dragons and royalty and a struggle between Good and Evil… what’s not to love?! When jealous, petty, power-hungry Malificent tries to destroy the beautiful, kind, and generous Princess Aurora, we find that ultimately her nefarious plan fails. The good fairy Merriweather had from the beginning of Aurora’s life cast a spell of protection over her. The spell simply said that if evil should ever try to dim her light, “true love’s kiss” would reignite it. The power of Love must always prevail. Sure enough, the hateful Malificent hypnotizes Aurora and causes her to inject poison into her body by means of a sewing needle, but the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather find the prince who has Aurora’s heart, and he revives her with a kiss. Sleeping Beauty has always read like an Easter story to me.
Imperial Rome tried to crush all movements for independence and liberty. The Empire saw Jesus’ popular message of hope, healing, and personal empowerment as a threat to their power. And so, they executed him. But the spirit of Life and Love would not let Jesus’ significance end that easily… and those who had been touched by his generous and beautiful message continued to experience him beyond his execution… and we who follow his message today continue to affirm that he lives in our hearts. Because of this experience, whenever difficulties, injustice, pain, or sorrow seem to conspire against us to keep us down, we find that the same life-giving spirit of Love is always there to raise up back up, to renew our hope, and to remind us that nothing can rob us of our Sacred Value!
May the message and the magic of Easter bless you in the days, weeks, months, and years to come!
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