Happy Friday, Everybody. After months of putting in the practice of making every Friday a Little Triduum, here we are concluding the Lenten Season at the Big One. This Sunday is, of course, Easter. But today, Good Friday, the churches are desolate. So, from this desolation which is an unavoidable part of our pilgrimage through this Valley of Tears, let’s look at the upcoming Gospel in the Light of the Grave:

The Gospel is Matthew 28: 1-10 and can be read here:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040526.cfm

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were met by the angel of the Lord at Jesus’ tomb where they are told:

He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.

Let’s take the time this Good Friday, amidst the desolation, amidst whatever anxieties are plaguing us, to consider the words from the angel -- “just as he said.”

Our world is so full of words. Words in books, words on the news, words in podcasts, words on the street, words in our houses, words in our heads. We live amidst a torrent of words, but very few of them have any meaningful connection to The Word. The Word that was made flesh to suffer and die to save us from our sins.

The simplicity and certainty of the angel’s words, “just as he said,” strike me as a rebuke to our lack of faith or understanding. Surely our anxiety would be completely extinguished if we would hear and trust Jesus’ words as we ought to. But that rebuke from the angel, that subtle invitation to weigh and judge the strength of our own faith, does not stand alone.

Knowing our weakness, our sinfulness, our failure to break free from the doubts that plague so many of us so much of the time, the angel, as an ambassador of God’s mercy, invites the women to ‘come and see the place where he lay.’ To engage the physical evidence of that most marvelous of all historical events: Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead.

For us on this Good Friday, in a mysterious way, Jesus will be glimpsed still laying there, apparently crushed under the weight of our personal sins. Our willingness to soberly face this vision, and how we respond to it, plays a pivotal part in our passage to Easter joy - coming very soon – and serves as a template for how we will face Jesus, personally, at the end of our lives - coming sooner than we think.

Happy Easter Everybody, Jesus I trust in You