Easter

I think there is a very real way in which these people are images of Christ crucified. And if that is true then there is hope for them for they will , as Jesus  said to the man on the cross next to him, ' be with him in paradise'. 
                                                           
Maybe that seems facile. Because we know that sometimes life does not get better and then we wonder if there could be a paradise? 

There are two things I think are worth thinking about here:
                                                         First of all, experience does teach us that paradise exists where love exists. We also know by experience, that we are given the power to love. So... by loving those who are suffering we can make paradise present for them and for us. When we can feed the hungry, visit the sick, free those imprisoned by fear, clothe the poor, educate children and nurse the sick then, I think, paradise is present. Then these people we see here would no longer have to live like this.             

Secondly, by using this power of love starting with those right next to us and spreading out to neighbors and nations so that justice prevails, we won't even need to ask whether paradise exists for we will be 
there in the midst of it.

                        HAPPY 
                       EASTER!