APRIL 20, 2025

So many people are rushing around on Easter. I’m under no misconception that it’s easy to get a family dressed in their nice Easter Sunday outfits and head out to Church in the morning. Of course, you’ll head home for Easter egg hunts or to cook a big lunch or dinner. Or maybe you’ll be getting yourselves ready to visit some friends or family. You’ll then rush home for a nap on the couch. Maybe you’ll catch some PGA golf or some baseball on the television. There’s a lot going on.

Well, the very first Easter was full of rushing around too! Rushing from the tomb, a mere 20 yards or so from Golgotha, the place of the skull - back into Jerusalem - then rushing back to the tomb - then rushing back to Jerusalem! After the three saddest days of their lives, Jesus’ disciples are now all over the place. It’s quite likely that they were frantic! “Could it be possible?” the disciples were probably wondering. “They saw the empty tomb! They say that Jesus is alive! But how?” Even now there is confusion - maybe some doubt. But there is overriding hope! Can it possibly be?!

Two of the Apostles who had been still and motionless in their sorrow for hours now begin to run. A new hope urges them to search for Him: “What if the women are right?!”... “What if Jesus was right?!!!”

According to Christian tradition, while everyone else was scurrying around, Our Lady waited expectantly in prayer. There was a stillness and confidence in her heart. During those three days Mary had been counting the hours until she would see her Son alive again.

Some traditions tell us that she was the first to see the Risen Body of her Son. She kissed His pierced Hands, caressed His open Side, rested her head on the Sacred Shoulders marked by the Cross, and embraced the Glorious Body of her Son. In a still silence, our Lady’s tears mixed with His and they chatted lovingly about... forever. About Heaven, which was just won for everyone.

In Jerusalem, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, you can walk down the twenty or so steps from peak of Calvary, past the anointing stone where the dead Body of our Lord was prepared for burial, and into the tomb of Jesus. There’s commotion in the busy Church of the Holy Sepulchre. During the day, there’s a perpetual buzz of activity. But when you enter the tomb, everything goes silent. There’s a stillness and confidence in that place. The same stillness and confidence that rested in our Lady’s heart 2,000 years ago.

Imagine with me now… You’ve jumped through all the hoops of international travel, you’ve made your way through the airport and the two-hour bus trip to Jerusalem. You hustle through the crowded city streets, past the throngs into the Church, and now you’ve come to the tomb to be with Jesus in a way like no other.

And, I’ll be honest, it really is a place like no other. In the silent stillness of that place, you kneel down to put your hands on the cool stone. As you let the reality of the situation wash over you, you look up, slightly above the tomb itself - and you see it spelled out in Latin for all to see - Surrexit! Non est hic, ecce locus ubi poserunt. He is Risen! Behold the place where they laid Him. He is not here! He is Risen!.

Happy Easter!

Fr. Ryan P. Brady
Pastor of St. Christina Parish