It just might be an Easter miracle.
After almost a week trapped in the Suez Canal and blocking vital international fuel and cargo, the Ever Given container ship was dislodged on March 29 from the shipping lane.
With camera crews, news media, and hundreds of waiting vessels behind it, watching in anticipation, dredgers and tugboats freed the ship from one of the globe’s busiest shipping routes.
“God is great. The ship has floated,” one person was reported to have said in a video capturing the Ever Given’s triumphant moment, one that experts earlier predicted was days, if not weeks, away.
Its re-emergence into open waters, happening during Holy Week, is a good sign for all of us. We, too, can become unstuck.
From sin. From temptation. From wayward thoughts and deeds directed at our family, friends and neighbors.
Through his death and resurrection that we mark this weekend, Jesus has created a path toward clear, open waters for all of us. In the sacrament of reconciliation, his mercy can dredge the sludge that weighs us down and pull us higher to him.
For companies and individuals around the globe depending on the Ever Given for its cargo, its release from the canal is a relief.
So, too, the grace of our confession can impact the lives of others. We just never know, ultimately, how God will use us to impart his will into the hearts of the family, friends, co-workers or strangers that we come into contact with. By asking for his forgiveness and opening ourselves up to his love through reconciliation, though, we allow his light to shine through us and the work of his mystery to begin.
Through this Easter Season and beyond, may we navigate our lives with faith and, when we become stuck, know of his ever-present help.
God is great. Our ship has floated.
Peter G. Sánchez is a staff writer and social media coordinator for the Catholic Star Herald.
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