Mtr Mary Trainor

Dear friend,

Waiting at the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Waiting at the tomb.

That’s the scene for us today from Matthew 27 (57-66.) The brutal crucifixion of their Beloved now complete, two of the women who witnessed it from afar have made their way to the tomb where he would lay.

They watch as Joseph of Arimathea arrives with Jesus’ body, already prepared for burial. They watch as Joseph carries Jesus into the tomb, lays him down oh so gently, then leaves and rolls a large stone across the entrance, for what he and the watchers presume to be the final punctuation in this horrifying story.

We imagine the women watch as Joseph walks away. We know they eventually leave, also, because it is their return that leads to the startling revelation that the tomb is empty. Death has not been victorious and Jesus is on the move.

But until we get to that world-changing discovery, we are left with this night, this death, this tomb. And the waiting and the watching.

In the wake of the death of someone close, after shock and dismay, after outbursts, or weeping, or cursing or denial of death’s reality, when we are all washed out by grief, a kind of stony silence can set in. While we may draw some comfort from having others around us, words no longer seem necessary or helpful. Silence becomes its own language among the bereaved.

That’s how I imagine it was for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting across from the tomb. Waiting and watching. In silence.

Two thousand years later, we wait and watch with them, silent in the loss and grief, gathered in community, having nowhere else we would rather be than where we last had hope of seeing him.

Mtr. Mary

Note:: The Holy Triduum (the three great and sacred days before Easter) concludes tonight with the Great Vigil of Easter, the kindling of the New Fire, the lighting of the Paschal Candle, proclamation of Easter, and the first Mass of Easter. Please join us at 8 p.m. for this profound pilgrimage to the upper room, Gethsemane, Calvary, the darkened tomb, and the first light of Easter!