April 5, 2026 Essay: A Darkened, Empty Tomb
In the pre-dawn hours, when the deepest darkness of the night shrouded what would have been familiar and where the silence echoed an eerie stillness, the women who wanted to anoint the bloodied body of Jesus summoned within themselves the courage to walk to his tomb. Undoubtedly filled with fear, their gait was nonetheless deliberate and their destination sure. Each footfall was surely accompanied by a quickening heartbeat. What would they find at the end of their short journey to the hillside overlooking Calvary? Resolute and brave, they arrived at the tomb and entered it with only a moment’s hesitation. Within that dark and empty tomb, they discovered a bright world of hope and experienced the thrill of being touched by the hand of an angel. As the dawn of a new day was revealing its vibrant hues, how could they not but run with joy in their hearts to tell the others? They no longer had any reason to fear the darkness and silence of the night.
As I reflected on the experience of those who entered the tomb of Jesus, these words of Helen Keller came to mind:
Once I knew only darkness and stillness…my life was without past or future…
but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched
at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.
For Helen Keller, the fingers of Anne Sullivan, her tutor, opened for her a world that was surely beyond her imagination. Throughout her childhood she lived in the void of a darkened, empty tomb, but did not allow that to define her. Her tenacity and courage had to have been rooted in her belief that God had something more in mind for her. Unafraid of the dark, she was touched by an angel and was born anew into a world of limitless possibilities. Hope did not fail her, rather it invited her to leap to the rapture of living.
Interestingly, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday with accounts from the Gospels of those who entered his tomb. They were not simply passive witnesses. They were active participants in the unfolding events surrounding his Resurrection. Their stories had to be told. What they did undergirds our faith and belief in Jesus Christ. These intrepid disciples are also models for us in our time of darkness.
Anchored in the belief that Jesus was truly the Son of God, these disciples placed their trust in the words of Jesus Christ that he would rise from the dead and be with them again. Peering into the open tomb, they did not run from it. Rather, they confronted the darkness and exposed its powerlessness. In that moment, they were touched by the hand of an angel and were born anew into a world of rapture as they realized what had occurred in the early hours of that morning. Hope did not fail them. They emerged from the tomb and experienced the radiant brilliance of a new day as they encountered the Risen Jesus.
On this Easter Sunday, let the story be told that we entered that empty void of indifference of today’s troubled world, grasped the hands of those living in darkness, and led them into the light of hope. Let us be as giddy with excitement as were those fearless disciples and joyfully leap into the world to proclaim the message that Our Savior lives, that darkness has been shattered and death itself defeated.
May your celebration of Easter this year be filled with every blessing and the radiant light of God’s love. Happy Easter!
— Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., Pastor