“Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelations 21:5
Happy Easter weekend everyone! Right now I’m draining the last of my morning coffee because we’re leaving for Church in a few minutes, but I wanted to share something I’ve been thinking about recently. Ever since I attended a local Good Friday service, I’ve been mulling over Tolkien’s idea of the “Eucatastrophe,” the hinging moment when overwhelming evil is suddenly overcome with good.
We see the Eucatastrophe over and over again: in superhero movies, in epic fantasy, in nineteenth-century literature. Novelists refer to this as the “darkest moment,” when the hero is brought to his or her lowest, and they realize some fundamental truth about themselves that allows them to win. The higher the odds are stacked against them, the sweeter the victory.
We like this trope in stories because it speaks to a deeper longing within us: we long for truth, for beauty, for the knowledge that good will win after all. We need to know that the kingdom beyond the sea will be our home in the end.
In the chorus of his poem “The Cure at Troy,” Seamus Heaney writes this:
“History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
Seamus Heaney, from “The Cure at Troy.”
Easter is a time when we celebrate the greatest Eucatastrophe in history. It’s a season of new beginnings, when dead seeds become fields of wildflowers and rain gives way to sunshine. Today is the day when hope and history rhyme. Isn’t that a beautiful thing to celebrate?!
With that, my friends, I wish you a wonderful Easter. May your weekend be full of friends, family, flowers, and feasting.
Love you!
<3 Olivia Grace
