Is the tomb our final destination?

Just the other week I prayed a holy hour at the future place of my burial.  While I haven’t purchased it yet, I believe I have known the place for a good while now.  It is in the R Section of Glendale Cemetery in Akron, right above the Robinson Mausoleum.  It is a place where I used to play and have fun as a kid because I grew up in the house inside the cemetery.

If we are honest with ourselves, when we think about dying and death, it scares us.  There is a big part of us that fears dying.  This is because we love life!  This is healthy.  We should have a good desire to live and love and receive the gift of our lives and the creation we live in.  But is this it?  When we breathe our last breath, is our final destination the grave site we selected here on earth?

Absolutely not!

On Easter morning, I love to play the song by Casting Crowns called “Hallelujah.”  It is a wonderful expression of the resounding reality of God breaking through and conquering death and making the grave no longer our final destination.  Here are some of the lyrics…

Man shakes the fist at heaven

The breath of God still in his lungs

A brokenhearted Father grieves

In love He sends His only Son

He was bruised for our transgressions

Crushed and buried in the ground

As the sunrise finds an empty tomb

The redeemed of God resound

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah

This is what we resound:  Alleluia!

As redeemed sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, we can confidently shout out Alleluia!  We are redeemed!  This is not the end!  And it is all because of Jesus and His desire to share that new life with us!  The Closing Prayer from the Office of Readings for Easter Sunday puts is well…

God our Father, by raising Christ Your Son You conquered the power of death and opened for us the way to eternal life.  Let our celebration today raise up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us. 

The same Spirit that broke open the tomb lives in you and me.  Celebrate that well, not only on Easter day but all the days of your life!

Alleluia!
Fr. Jeremy