Resurrection Of A Lifeless World
It takes an exercise in imagination for us to realize what a terrible day Good Friday was for the Apostles. For three years they had loyally followed our Lord, trusting him implicitly, believing that he was, truly, the Son of God. And then the unthinkable happens—the Roman soldiers arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane and arrest this man they thought was untouchable. Perhaps they expected that this Man of Miracles would perform an amazing display of his power, striking down his tormentors and executioners. But gradually it became apparent that there was to be no such wondrous turn of events.
They must have quickly descended from disappointment to disillusionment to despair. The apostle who led the Roman soldiers to Jesus in the Garden certainly despaired and hanged himself. Ten other apostles went into hiding, in such horror at the events of the day that they couldn’t even bring themselves to watch. Only one of them, St. John, summoned up the courage to stand with the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross.
None of these men had any idea what was going to happen next. What were they to do now with their lives? They were not expecting the Resurrection, and were thrown into shock, disbelief in some cases, mixed with joy, relief and new hope when the risen Lord did appear to them. They should have known he would return—Jesus himself had told them in detail what was going to happen to him, including that he would rise again on the third day. But they had lost faith and did not dare to hope for the impossible.
We claim today to be Christ’s followers. And rightly so, for in many ways we resemble his first disciples. And that’s not entirely a good thing when it comes to their behavior that first Holy Week. Our lifetime has seen the increasing frenzy of persecution aimed at our Lord’s Holy Church. We have remained loyal this far, and for our faithfulness to the true Mass we’re condemned by the very men who are supposed to protect it. We become disheartened, depressed and disillusioned like the apostles. We think it’s not fair. And instead of standing at the foot of the Cross with St. John, we hide our faces, quietly whimpering in our homes as we watch the End Times unfold on the nightly news.
I do not believe that God chose us for these times so that we could emulate the cowardice of his Son’s first disciples. Surely, he expects us to be not only loyal servants but true warriors of Christ the King, unafraid and proud to stand up for the truth and denounce, publicly if needs be, the increasingly horrific errors of our times. For this were we born into these times, and we must do our part. Only through God’s help and the prayers and courage of the remnant faithful can the Mystical Body of the Church rise again out of the ashes of Vatican II and once again joyfully proclaim, “Christ is Risen!”