Easter is a time of hope, victory, and a reminder that everything makes sense. When we look at the holiday this way, it makes the celebration more meaningful. We need hope, the triumph of good over evil, to find our way in this difficult reality.
As Poles, we are familiar with hardships. But we remember the moments of experiencing the holidays gave us hope, faith that things will be better and the long-awaited moment of victory will come. Let Easter be a time of spiritual rebirth for us.
Often when we think about hope, we want to believe everything will be fine, but this is not always the case. Now we must ask: what hope does the Risen Christ bring?
Hope is not naivety. Christ did not rise so that we would have a life on earth without problems. Hope is a deep feeling that despite all difficulties, God is with us all the time.
We often associate hope with pats on the back or assurances that “everything will be just fine.” While sincere, they are simple solutions, not real ones. Life is about having difficult days, about feeling as if evil is winning. Hope allows us to get through difficult moments, leading us to victory. We can call it our resurrection, that is, introducing our life to a new quality.
The empty tomb is a beautiful paradox of this world, because the emptiness of Jesus’ tomb indicates the fullness of everything. This power of Christ, the message of the Gospel, and His gifts of redemption were taken away from us. Miraculously, three days of darkness yield to an eternity in light. Gospel descriptions of the tomb are shrouded in mystery. We know nothing of the transfiguration, and so our belief requires an act of faith, a surrender to the Holy Spirit. It is important that we know how to lay our lives in Christ’s tomb and know how to wait to experience the morning of resurrection.
In today’s world, we are constantly “on.” Unless external circumstances force us to do so, we rarely take time to enter our own tombs, where we can reflect on what is truly important to us; what our priorities are and how to find them; and where to look for the truth — to experience our own resurrection. That is the purpose of Lent, which, experienced sincerely in openness to God, will present Easter in a completely different dimension.
Again, as Poles, we are blessed with wonderful Easter symbols, from the blessing of baskets to pussy willows, but they themselves are not Easter, and are of secondary importance. To experience Easter more deeply, we need to focus on the essence of the holiday.
Listen to the silence of the empty tomb and look for the living Christ in it.
Excepted from an interview with Father Artur Chejnowski SDB, academic chaplain of Warsaw’s Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, by Maria Górczyńska.
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