Easter Morning- Lev Gillet

Taken from “Jesus a Dialogue with The Saviour” by Fr Lev Gillet

It is Easter morning and the women who are on their way to the sepulchre at daybreak, carrying spices, are saying to one another : “ Who shall roll us back the stone? ” For a stone which is very big blocks the entrance of the tomb. According to all human reckoning, it is improbable that the women will be able to get to the Saviour’s body.

Jesus often seems imprisoned in my soul and reduced to helplessness, as He was in the sepulchre before the Resurrection. The heavy stone of my sin keeps Him in that state. How many times I have longed to see Jesus rise in me in His light and power! How many times have I tried to roll back the stone — but in vain! The weight of sin, the weight of its habits were too strong. I would say to myself almost in despair : “ Who will roll the stone back? ”

Nevertheless, the women are on their way to the tomb. Their approach is a pure act of faith. This faith — this madness — will have its reward. I too must persist in this mad hope that the stone will be removed.

But the women going to the tomb are not empty-handed. They bring spices bought in order to embalm the Saviour’s body. If I long for the stone to be removed from my soul, I must — at least as a sign, a token of my good will — bring something with me. Perhaps it would be very little, but it must be something which cost me something, something which is in the nature of a sacrifice.

Now the women find that the stone at the entrance of the sepulchre has been removed, It has been removed in a way which they had notforeseen. “There was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and coming rolled back the stone. ” In order to remove the stone, nothing less than a cataclysm was necessary. A push, a slight readjustment would not be enough. Likewise, the stone which seems to immobilize and paralyze Jesus in my soul can be taken away only by an earthquake, that is to say, by a violent interior catastrophe, by a complete and radical change. A jolt like lightning is required to unsettle me. Jesus rises from the dead in me only if the one who I was ceases to exist, giving way to the new man. Not a retouching or a tuning up will do; but a death and a birth are necessary.

The angel annouces to the disciples that the risen Christ is waiting for them in Galilee. Jesus Himself renews this order: “ Go, tell My brethren that they go into Galilee. There they shall see Me. ” Why this return to Galilee? Does Jesus want to protect His disciples from the enmity of the Jews? Does He want to assure them, after the anxieties of His Passion, of days of peace and calm? Perhaps. But there seems to be an even deeper reason.

It was in Galilee that the disciples had met Jesus. There they had heard the call and begun to follow the Saviour. The memory of those days was to preserve in their souls a springtime freshness. After the infidelities of the previous week, Jesus wanted to plunge His disciples once again into that first freshness, that first fervor. He wanted to renew in them the emotion, the decision of the first meeting. In the Galilean atmosphere which He brings to life again, He will complete His revelation.

There is a Galilee in the life of each one ofus — or at least in the life of those among us, who, one day, met the Saviour and loved Him. This Galilee is, in my period of existence, the time when I became aware that Jesus was looking at me, and calling me by name. Since then, many years have gone by. These years could be laden with countless sins. It may seem that I have forgotten Jesus Christ. Yet, whoever has met Jesus just once cannot forget Him. Jesus invites me to go back to the Galilee of my soul, to bring to life again within me the intimacy and fervor of the first days. There, again I shall see Him.

Master, I would like to go back to Galilee. But will I meet You there? How can I warm up my heart which has become so cold? Will the memory of our Galilee be enough to recreate the emotion of our first meeting?

“ He will go before you into Galilee... ” My child, you will not have to evoke My presence painfully. I shall be faithful to the appointment which I have made with you. I shall do more than wait for you in this Galilee of memories. Now I go before you, I shall lead you there. When your heart is once again fixed on Galilee, the One who is guiding you will make Himself known to you, and He will speak to you...