Daily Meditation for April 24, 2025

Minnesota poet Michael Dennis Browne speaks of poetry as a model for holding contradictions in tension. He suggests that we need to honor the contradictions in our lives rather than trying to find simple, black-and-white answers to problems. Instead of trying to resolve our questions too neatly or too quickly, we need to hold in reverence the truths that seem to oppose one another. We need to live with the questions and live the questions. Michael Dennis Browne’s reflection on contradictions sounds very much like what Christians call the paschal mystery—the Good Friday/Easter Sunday mystery we celebrated last weekend. The paschal mystery includes Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It also includes our own experiences of new life emerging from suffering, defeat and failure. We ought not deny the darkness, and we cannot escape it. We can only live with trust that the dawn will surely come.

By Delores Dufner, OSB