Resting in the Empty Tomb - Responding to our Pain and Struggles

This morning, I along with 15 other seminarians, had Mass in the empty tomb of Christ at the Holy Sepulcher.  It was here that Christ was taken off the cross and laid.  It was here that He was raised from the dead. The tomb itself is just big enough to fit 3-4 people in it.  The tomb itself is surrounded by a small entrance room and doors.  The altar for Mass is placed right above the slab where Christ was laid.   As we followed the priest into the entrance room and tomb; the doors were shut behind us. It was just the seminarians, the priests, and the Lord (while various tour groups were walking, talking and praying outside the tomb!  What an intimate setting to find myself this morning.

It was during Mass that I reflected on Holy Saturday!  It was that agonizing day of waiting through pain and loss before the Resurrection.  Outside of the actual pain experienced on Good Friday and the Crucifixion by our Lord, Holy Saturday is a pain felt strongly by Christ's loved ones!  Remember Christ died on the cross and the knowledge of his coming Resurrection was not clear!  There was a great pain of sadness and unknown among the disciples of Christ.  The anguish in their heart remained, all the hope they had in the coming Messiah had vanished.  Everything was completely gone!  

And that's where my heart went to this morning. I have many friends who are struggling in life; those who have lost loved ones to murder and injustice, those who have lost loved ones suddenly to health complications, those battling cancer and other health diseases like ALS. That's not to mention those facing non-life threatening diseases, but encountering great angst about their future.  Each and everyone of these encounters are people struggling with what the Apostles struggled on Holy Saturday!  Hope has seemed to vanish.  The questions about why and what now begin.  What happened to all that the Lord had promised us?  

These questions are unavoidable, and yet these questions once again allow us to reaffirm our faith.  Unlike the Apostles who actually experienced the actual Holy Saturday without the Resurrection Sunday, we know and have celebrated Easter Sundays since that great moment!  We once again, even in our sadness and struggles, can say Christ is Risen!  

As I sat in the empty tomb and was able to kiss the slab where Christ had laid, I was once again reminded of the Angels proclamation, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen," as he said," Come, see the place where he lay." (MT 28:5-6) Lent is a time of preparation to receive the great news once again! It is time to sit in our struggles and once again proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord!