Stillness of the Earth

Originally published in April 2021.

“This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.”

from the Exsultet (Easter Proclamation)

Today the earth stood still. Our Lord’s body is in the tomb. He has gone to the land of the dead. We are told in the Apostle’s Creed that “He descended into Hell.” Have you ever thought about that? It was not enough that Jesus died, He descended into hell to destroy death once and for all. How awesome is that? Jesus loved us so much that dying on the cross was not enough. He loved the people, even those who persecuted Him and who put Him to death, but He also loved those who have gone before Him. We are told that Jesus went to the place of the dead (see picture below), broke open those gates, and brought with Him all the righteous - Abraham, Moses, and all those who have gone before Him, so that they could enjoy their eternal reward. He even brought with Him Adam and Eve. Jesus reversed what Adam did, being obedient to the Father, and not eating of the tree, but dying on it.

Jesus came for all, even those who have died before Him. That is why perhaps St. Paul wrote to the Philippians that “… so that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend, in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!”

Jesus didn’t just die on the cross. He went into Hell to bring with Him the righteous, definitively conquering death. On this day, the earth stood still. But soon, it will rumble because Jesus is making His way back up.

Silent Presence

“Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:7

First published April 15, 2022.

After Our Lord had been arrested and sentenced, we do not hear much from Him. Rather He remains relatively silent. This is His passion. It is a passivity, but not an idle one. This part of His life and ministry was one that was passive, one that was about what He allowed others to do to Him. His passion was what He suffered, what He permitted to be inflicted upon Himself for the sake of the Father’s will. Jesus’ passion was a ministry of silence.

It was through this ministry of silence that Our Lord’s mission was brought to completion and perfection. It was in His silence that He spoke the loudest. It is no wonder that it is said that God comes to us in the silence. For it is in the silence of our hearts that God meets us and speaks to us. It was not in the earthquake or fire that Elijah experienced God’s presence, but rather it was in the small still voice. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus “was silent and opened not His mouth,” but allowed the soldiers to strip Him and nail Him to the Cross, because it was there, in His silence, that God was present. It was His silence that moved the centurion to faith. How can one endure such pain and suffering and yet remain silent and unforgiving? It was incomprehensible to the people, but it moved them to think about all that was said about Jesus, and for some it brought them to faith. It was in His silent suffering that people came to experience the presence of God. May we today, sit in the silence, and meet the God who comes to us.

Emptied to the End

“But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice,
and gave up his spirit.”

Matthew 27:50

Every Palm Sunday we read the Passion Narrative, journeying with the Lord from the Last Supper in the Upper Room to the hill of Calvary where Jesus breathed His last. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week that leads up to the Paschal Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil), the three holiest days of the liturgical year. Today we are invited to walk with the Lord on this journey, a journey that begins with singing and praising and that ends with the Resurrection but not without first the pain and suffering of death. Will you walk with the Lord?

On Palm Sunday we commemorate the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem triumphantly, being treated as king, with the people waving palm branches and paving the road with their garments. Although the people were singing and smiling, Jesus knew deep down that this was the beginning of what would be the most painful and excruciating trip into the Holy City, a journey He had made plenty of times in His lifetime, but this time would be different.

Jesus loved us to the very end. For three years He taught and preached and performed numerous miracles while walking on this earth. Many believed but others wanted Him gone. Jesus’s love was the visible expression of the eternal love with which God has loved us. From the healings and miracles to the final sacrifice on the Cross, those were all expressions and manifestations of God’s unconditional love for us.

From the moment God became man to the moment Jesus breathed His last on the Cross, Jesus’s entire life was one of “kenosis” or self-emptying. God chose to empty Himself and condescended to earth leaving the glory of Heaven, being born in the most humble of states. God loves us so much that He was willing to assume our lowly human nature, experiencing all that we do as humans (but sin) so that He might truly understand us but at the same time so that we might dare taste the glory of His divinity. When God assumed our humanity, humanity was forever changed. But this was not enough.

Jesus willingly suffered threats, humiliation, scourging, ridicule, and crucifixion. On the Cross, Jesus was emptied of every last drop of blood and He breathed His last. In breathing His last and giving over His Spirit, Jesus breathed life into the Church. In dying, Jesus gave us life. In emptying Himself to the very end, Jesus fills us with new life.