Grave as place of life

Fr. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ

Now we are in the editorial board, having returned from the pilgrimage to the Holy Land – ‘the fifth Gospel.’ This was an extraordinary trip, rich in spiritual emotions and experiences concerning various cultures and nations as well as sociological phenomena. The pilgrimage began in Bethlehem, in the Grotto of the Nativity of Jesus – a very ordinary place where little Jesus was laid two thousand years ago. It was where Mary and Joseph looked at the Child of God and rejoiced at his birth. Our route led through the places marked by the presence of Jesus. We could listen to his message included in the Sermon on the Mount. We also visited such places as Capernaum where Jesus had made so many miracles, where he had called Peter and Andrew, where he had spent a lot of time. However, the most striking place is certainly the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. In this very place people recollect the crucifixion of Lord Jesus and his death on the cross and then putting his dead body in the grave. We touch these most holy places and feel that faith in the possibilities of man – a child of God – to overcome the limits of love is being awakened. But this is also the place where Jesus rose from the dead. The biggest miracle in the world happened here. This man who died, who finished his life, whose heart stopped beating, overcame death and he stood before his disciples alive and victorious. The place that was his grave became the place of life... Here human faith must be restored and with it joy and hope appear. Jesus is alive! Without the fact of the resurrection all things would have been extremely sad and tragic – our lives would have had no sense since death would have destroyed everything, death would have won. The empty grave of Jesus is the place full of power and strength. It is the witness of Jesus’ resurrection. We know the Gospel descriptions that Jesus met his disciples after his resurrection; that they saw him, sat with him, ate with him, talked to him and touched him. Jesus’ resurrection became their hope and power to act. Those simple people who like other people experienced the drama of fear about their daily lives, did their best, risking their lives, to proclaim God’s teaching and they felt that he was with them, that he strengthened them and instructed them. From that moment, from Christ’s resurrection, the new era of human history actually began since the resurrection of Jesus and the experience of the presence of the Resurrected gave new sense to life. The feast of the Lord’s Resurrection is for us, therefore, the time of power that originates from the miracle of the Resurrection. It gives man the foundation of faith in life after death; it gives strength and power to struggle with the adversaries of life in ‘God’s style.’ It gives joy and hope for great celebration of life and love. And it makes man strong in love – without it evil and sin cannot be rejected; there will be no resurrection without love.
Jesus as the King of love, God and Saviour, comes to us at Easter, giving each of us great power flowing from confidence in God. The resurrection of Lord Jesus is a proof that all those who obey God’s teaching will not die forever. Our strength and hope come from that. These great mysteries of faith are especially evident in the Holy Land, the land of great God’s promises. Let them be the motif of our Ester joy and hope this year. Moreover, let them be the certainty that sand is not the fate of anyone. Man, who since the beginning has been embraced by God’s love, goes to God that has ‘many rooms’; where the Resurrected Christ is Lord and King – the biggest Argument that eternal life exists and that God is the fulfilment of the one that puts his hope in him.

"Niedziela" 15/2009

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl