JS-CAMBODIA

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR FRIENDS

Good Friday Reflection and a Simple Easter Story

Christ shares with us the agony of his heart
as we encounter his most vulnerable friends
the blind, the lame, the deaf,
the child orphaned by AIDS,
the old, the friendless,
the refugee, the beggar.

We hear Christ crying beneath the rubble in Iraq and Afghanistan
behind the barricade
in Palestine
thirsting in the desert of Sudan
mourning as the locusts devour the crops in Dubbo.

Where did Christ share the agony
of his heart with you, this last month?
What did you feel? How did you respond? Say to God?
What did God say to you?

Perhaps you would like to share some of this with others.
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A SIMPLE CAMBODIA EASTER STORY

Thida is nine. Trying to cover her legs with her skimpy sarong she sat there intently listening to twelve other children telling the story of their accident with "explosive remnants of war". They were sad stories and her eyes glistened with empathy.
But there was something about Thida. We began to talk and as she talked I noticed a small foot protruding from just below the knee, possibly an effect of Agent Orange. Perhaps we can ask the International Red Cross to make you a leg. Would you like one? A vigorous nod.

After the mine awareness ceremony we bumped the car along an unbelievable road to the village looking for her mum. When we were nearly there two shining eyes were peering out through the palm fronds. Running in her lopsided way, with one leg half as long as the other, she had seen our vehicle enter her area
and followed.
Mom was not home but we left the address if they wanted to visit us in the next province. Some days later Thida appeared again. Now she has an orthotic device that helped her to walk, and returned home with shining eyes and heart. Thida is a Buddhist and knows nothing about the Easter story but through her the resurrection comes alive once again for us.
Sr. DENISE