The tomb is empty

Two years ago, I made my most recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On the last morning of our trip, we found ourselves in Jerusalem. Early in the morning, our group of 42 pilgrims arrived in the city. Together, we made our way along the Via Crucis - the Stations of the Cross.  It ends at the Holy Sepulchre: the tomb in which the body of Jesus was placed following the crucifixion. Our guide had warned us that there are normally many visitors lining up every day to visit this holy place. While we stood outside and meditated on the last three stations of the cross, our guide went to check the length of the lineup to enter the tomb. We had only just finished our meditation on the thirteenth station when Anton arrived to call out to us: Come, come now, the tomb is empty!

This is the scene I have always envisioned at the moment when the women who had visited the tomb on Easter morning arrived in the Upper Room, when they told the Eleven what they had experienced at the sepulchre: about the two men who stood in front of them in dazzling clothes (Lk 24: 4) In fact, this is the way that we must all understand life, because the Passion of the Lord does not really end with death on the cross, but rather with him coming out of the tomb.

Following the ignoble death of their Lord, the Apostles lost heart: their dream of a new kingdom had just collapsed. They wanted to return to their old lives, the lifestyles they had known before they had met the Master of Nazareth. It was at this time that the Lord took the initiative to call his Son from death and lift him up: his teaching, his plana and his gestures turn out to be authentic and life-giving. For us, and for the whole Church, this resurrection is the fulcrum of faith.

In fact, it is for us that the Lord raised his Son, because along with him, he wants to lead us into the new life in which we have been participating since the day of our baptism. From that point on, as disciples of Christ, we are constantly being invited to radiate the light of the resurrection. We do it when we turn away from selfishness and direct our lives towards love without measure.