Sealed in the Tomb, Free from the Pit: An Easter Message for Catholic Men

I wanted to share some words of encouragement to Catholic Men as together we walk this journey of life. We struggle to succeed, to be men or integrity, to honor our wives, and to serve our children as shining examples – and we often fall short. Many of us are in shadowy places and many have fallen hard along the road of salvation. In moments where the chords of darkness and despair have wrapped around our souls, where can we turn for comfort and peace?
 
I say we turn to the cold tomb just before the dawn of the Resurrection:
 
I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up,
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 
 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
  Weeping may last for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.  
 (Psalm 30:1-5 RSV2-CE)
 
 
The Lord had been laid to rest in the tomb, wrapped in a cloth and left in silence. The stone had been rolled in front of the entrance, a seal had been set, and guards had been posted. Even in His death, Jesus caused the rulers to fear. They worried someone would steal His body. Or was it that they worried that the prophecies might just be true? The Sabbath had come and all had to depart. When the Holy Day had passed there would be time to anoint the body with spices. But not today.
 
The beauty of Christianity over any other religion is that our Savior actually rose from the grave. No other religious system can say that about its founder. No other faith has their god coming to earth to pay the price for our sins. Only Christianity has the Creator of the universe leaving His throne to enter this life in poverty in order to be with His people and love them in His humanity as well as His divinity. No tomb could hold this Savior. Every other religious leader is either in the grave or someday will be. Jesus is the only One who could not be held in the tomb.
 
When we face the uncertainty of our many spiritual deaths, we have the message of the tomb to speak to our hearts. What happened between Good Friday and Easter? 1 Peter gives us a clue:
 
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. (1 Peter 3:18-22 RSV2-CE)
 
We, who have been baptized, share in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. As we meditate on the silence of the tomb and the solemnity of our Savior’s death, we can take comfort in the truth that our Lord “descended into hell” because of love. The time in the tomb did not last. The grave could not hold Jesus. The Father did not abandon His Son. Jesus conquered sin and death and on the Third Day rose in victory!
 
The 2018 Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference is fast approaching. Why not join us and find that same comfort in the company of other men who are walking the journey through the grave to the resurrection? Bring your sorrows and joys, your struggles and your strengths, to a place where together you may experience the peace and the power that comes from living a resurrection life. Think also, about that brother or friend who needs the fellowship that Catholic men share when they come together for a common cause, and invite him to come as well.
 
Have a blessed day and prepare your heart for this year’s conference!
 
Father, as I think of your Son in the grave, I find its silence stirring my soul to deeper contemplation about salvation and all that Jesus did for me. In His time in the tomb, He conquered death itself and became the just judge of the universe. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Thank you for your great love, the love that spoke from eternity into time, the love that speaks through brothers who come together in fellowship for you. Thank you most of all for the Resurrection. I offer you my love and my life, in Jesus’ name, Amen!