Editorial
 
The Shattered Tomb and Life Eternal
 

I am reminded of an incident that took place about a year ago. There were two boys in a family brought up in great love by the parents. One of the sons, who was working in a renowned South Indian city, met with his death in suspicious circumstances. On hearing the news the mother fell unconscious. She could not stand the sudden, unexpected separation from her twenty-year-old son. Months passed by but this affectionate mother kept lamenting the loss of her son. She would recount her sorrow to every familiar guest who visited the household.

About six months later I called on this mother. She wept loudly. She did not relish talking or listening to any consoling words. She had given up prayer and the sacraments. "Is God so cruel? What did he get by taking away my son?" So ran her constant laments. I said to her, "Did not the Virgin Mary watch her only Son being derided and rejected in the most insolent manner and then suffering the cruel death on the cross when he was just thirty years old? Was it not a mother who heard her dear son cry out, 'My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?' and saw him breathing his last? Was not the Blessed Virgin Mary's mind overwhelmed with grief when the dead body of her Son was placed on her lap?" As I was saying this, the mother stopped weeping, embraced the crucifix and gave a deep sigh. She surrendered at the feet of the crucified Christ all the pent up despair and grief. The sparks of glory of a life after death could be seen shining in her eyes. And in her tears glistened rays of hope.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a declaration that the grief and pain in this world will be conquered. The resurrection is the definite promise of the kingdom of God promised by Jesus Christ to the children of mother earth. Jesus rose from the dead, with the empty tomb as his witness, inaugurating the future bliss of heaven.

We are not people who have to weep over the lost pleasures of this destructible world. Neither should we lament over the lives of those who have departed from us. "Those who are in Christ are a new creation. The old has passed away." When we hear the echoes of this passing away, we say we hear the tolling of the death knell. At the same time the dawn of a new creation is heralded together with the communion of saints. They will be called by name to fall at the feet of Jesus, the Son of God!

"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied"( 1 Cor 15:19). "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you"(Rom 8:11). The empty tomb signifies that we live in this world looking beyond the tomb, hoping for the resurrection from the dead. The glorious resurrection of Jesus testifies that our lives are not meant to be destroyed by decay when our bodies are buried in a well-cut six-foot grave. Is that not why the angels said to the holy women at the door of the tomb? "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" ( Lk 24:5)

You who have lost wealth and position, or are bereaved through the death of your dear ones, do not weep. Awake! Arise and be resurrected!

May the blessings and graces of the risen Christ betokening the advent of a new age, be with every one of you!

-Editor