The scandal of the cross and the shock of the empty tomb!

 The preparations for the Easter Triduum are entering their final stages and we are called to ponder how we enter into the central part of the Kerygma of Jesus Christ. The fact that God cares so much for us that he is willing to undergo suffering and death so that we may experience resurrection. This seems to run contrary to our expectations of God in that we seem to encounter one on the cross who seems powerless, poor and destitute. This is not how we would want God to be. We would much prefer a God who appears powerful, wealthy and in control. This is the scandal of the Cross that changes how we relate to God and how we pray. No longer are we relating to a God who holds us at arm's length but rather a God who holds us close in our suffering, pain and uncertainty? When we encounter God in this way it changes our own way of living because we experience a level of intimacy that does not abandon us and leave us to our own devices.

Yet we know this is only half the story. The Paschal mystery does not end on Calvary but draws us into a deeper silence. The profundity of this experience is that we are rendered speechless when everybody else seeks to explain what happened. This way of being led into what appears darkness shows us that even in the darkest night his light may shine. We are called to wait upon the Lord in places where we feel afraid and uncomfortable with what may come next. The experience of the echoes of the empty tomb seem to match our own when we have lost someone we loved who has died. There is an aloneness that no one else can fill and we long to be filled. Yet this loving emptiness allows us the opportunity to make space for the Risen Lord. It is the place where we can surrender ourselves to a God who brings a deeper appreciation of what brings faith, hope and charity at the centre of our living.

In an age where we seem to be scandalised by the trivial and consumed by so many things these three days allow us to ponder who God is calling us to become. We are called to enter into the mystery of Christ who sustains us even in our deepest fears and in our greatest uncertainties to build a world that is not our own. God draws us closer and loves us more deeply than we can imagine. God allows us to live in a new way.