Reflections on Monday of the Holy Pascha

HAVING JUST CONCLUDED Monday of the Holy week of Pascha, I realized there was a certain underlying tone in the readings; God was simply unhappy.  We started the day with readings from Genesis, continued with Gospels concerning our Lord driving people out of the temple again, and Jesus cursing a fig tree.  Then in the evening we read a great deal about the end of times and the difficult path to Heaven.  None of which was very happy stuff, but where is the God of love?  The God of mercy?  The God of compassion?  

I recall a sermon in which the lecturer likens our relationship to God to that of a father and son.  The lecturer, being the father of a toddler talks about disciplining when the child does not obey.  Surely, God does not take pleasure in disciplining us, but it is out of love that He chooses to do so.  He prepares us for the trials that lay ahead for entering Heaven, just as a father disciplines a son so that he may learn and grow.  I am not yet a parent, but I'm sure disciplining a child is more difficult for a parent than it is for the child.  But it certainly done out of love and in the best interest of the child.  It is no different with God.  We are His children.  He wants to shower us with Blessings, but instead disciplines us in Love.  What did we do wrong to warrant this discipline?  For Adam and Eve, it was the original sin, for the vendors at the temple, it was turning His house into a "den of thieves," and for us, it was for having leaves but not bearing fruit.  

Let us not forget that as children of God, we have an obligation to make Him proud.  Use this week, the week of the Holy Pascha, to reflect on how to yield fruit and how to make our Father proud.