A good friend just sent me a wonderful photo of the dome and skylight above the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. To visit this church and the tomb is an unforgettable experience. The church itself is quite dark and usually very noisy but on a day when the sun is shining, the light that floods down from the skylight onto the Edicule (the house-like structure built over Jesus' tomb) is a startling reminder of what happened there: the miracle of miracles
All the noise fades as one steps into the Edicule and sees one of the two marble slabs that cover a limestone shelf. That shelf is where Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus' other loved ones laid him after carrying him from his execution site very nearby and then anointing him. This shelf was recently excavated as part of a restoration of the Edicule. There are videos of this all over the web for you to watch
I was in the Edicule last November with a group of pilgrims from the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, mostly New Yorkers who, as you know, are not easily awed. Well, we were more than awed at that tomb, each of us trying to picture in our minds that moment of resurrection. Life from no life. Every promise fulfilled. Of course, it was all beyond our paltry imaginations
One by one, we emerged from the Edicule — some in tears, others looking stunned. No one said anything for a long while. It was the quietest our group of pilgrims would be. I don't think that any of us ever will celebrate Easter the way we did before that experience
Perhaps you will make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre one day. However, you really don't have to go farther than your nearest Catholic Church to experience something miraculous. It happens in the Sacred Liturgy when simple bread and wine become the body and blood of the risen Christ
Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
Happy Easter