The Tomb Will Be Empty

The weather in the West is growing warmer, yet the headlines only seem to grow colder. Conflict in the Middle East appears set to endure, with innocent lives taken as two worlds collide. Americans feel betrayed by their old European allies, old alliances are fracturing, and the very order of the world is shifting before our eyes.

We witness the continued carnage in Ukraine. The so-called special military operation has now dragged on for over four long years. A brutal and bloody tragedy is unfolding on European soil, where young men, the very future of our continent, are sent into a meat grinder. The common people suffer under the weight of unyielding wills; history is repeating itself.

In once-proud Catholic Spain, a twenty-five-year-old girl is assisted by the state in taking her own life. This comes after she fell into depression as she was subjected to the most ruthless abuse by a group of men, men who should never have been there in the first place. Instead of supporting her, instead of preventing such horrors, the state offers her death. It is, one supposes, easier for them that way. Failed by the state, betrayed by society. The Church intervenes, but no one listens anymore.

For the ordinary family, the world’s uncertainty is a daily burden. Petrol prices rise, and the struggle to make ends meet becomes increasingly difficult. In Europe, some Christian parents have their children taken from them by authorities for raising them in their faith. Other couples are too afraid to bring children into the world at all. Many others despair because they cannot provide the life they wish for their offspring. They wake up early, they toil, and they sacrifice their health and sleep, yet they simply cannot make it work. Others want children more than anything but can’t, no matter how hard they try.

More and more people sit in loneliness. Social media has rendered us more asocial than ever. Old parents left alone in retirement homes; small children left alone in front of a screen. Everything we do in life has become content, and everything must be documented to generate views and likes. If we do not post it, it is as if it never happened. Yet, despite this constant digital presence, we feel increasingly alone. The Swedish psychiatrist Anders Hansen has noted that involuntary loneliness is as harmful to the body as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. At the same time, politicians celebrate reports that European youth are drinking and smoking less. The truth, however, is that they do so simply because they no longer socialize. It would be better for their health to simply have a smoke sometimes with friends, if they had any.

Others feel betrayed by their parents: the very people who were meant to love them most. They feel left alone, believing themselves to be damaged products of their environment; and perhaps they are. They blame their failures on their upbringing and carry a heavy stone in their hearts. Others have lost their parents and now live with the regret of time not spent or the weight of words of forgiveness never spoken. Others have lost a pet, a dear old friend. Or perhaps they themselves have fallen ill and are now waiting for death, some after never truly having lived.

My thoughts are with all of these during this Holy Week: the lonely, those struggling to survive the week, parents worried for their children, and those who fear the bombs above. My heart is with those who have lost kin, those who suffer but are offered only more suffering by the state, and all those who feel that every day is Good Friday.

But I plead with you: do not despair. When we look at our internal struggles, our anxieties, and our loneliness, we must remember that Christ has already descended into that darkness. He has walked through the valley of the shadow of death so that we never have to walk it alone.

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Christ himself cried out. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Through this, the prophecy was fulfilled. In your suffering, you too can be perfected. You can be perfected or you can be destroyed. Choose the former; try.

We do not always know why things happen. God allows these tragedies, but that does not mean He desires them. Yet, He can take any circumstance and transform it into something good. We must strive to allow Him to do so, for us, and to offer up our sufferings. To carry our cross with Him.

As Easter approaches, let us look past the headlines. Let us forgive those who have wounded us. Let us release our fears and our grudges against perceived failures and those who have stepped on us. In the end, we are the only ones who can make that choice. Put it all in God’s hands. What does it profit us to hold on to the darkness? The sun is coming back, but yet we choose to stay in the winter. Christ is risen, yet we live as if He has not.

When all is said and done, only one fact remains: Christ has triumphed over death. He has conquered the Cross. He has taken upon Himself the sins of the world and died for us, so that we may have eternal life. No matter how dark it feels, remember that on Sunday morning, the Tomb will be empty.