Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Between his death and resurrection, Jesus’ body lay in a tomb. In this episode, we take some time to sit outside of the tomb to remember our friend. We will recall the moments that we have spent with Jesus in this series and contemplate what Jesus' friends and family felt the day before the resurrection. 

“Consider the loneliness of Our Lady, whose grief and fatigue were so great: then, on the other side, the loneliness of the disciples.” - Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius 208

Though we know Jesus was buried in the tomb and remained there until the third day, there are no detailed stories or accounts of the disciples during this time. For this exercise, we sit in solitude in the garden as we would at the grave of a friend.

 

Use the following images if you would like some help guiding your imagination to build this scene, but only insofar as they are helpful. Please don’t feel restricted by these images. Allow your imagination to add or change details as it happens naturally for you. Don’t worry about complete historical accuracy. The point of the exercise is connection with Jesus.

 

Go into the garden where Jesus was placed in a tomb.

path

 

Sit and think of the time you have spent with Jesus.

Sit

 

Sit outside of his tomb.

Tomb of Jesus

 

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

Christians may not be fully aware of the bloody history of anti-Semitism that was fueled in part by Christian anti-Judaism going back to the origins of Christianity.
Richard J. CliffordJuly 23, 2024
Following a Vatican-mandated investigation that found no evidence of sexual misconduct, Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix is returning to his position as Quebec's archbishop and primate of Canada.
President Joe Biden's decision not to seek re-election is surprising—but don't call it unprecedented. It happened once before, in 1968.
James T. KeaneJuly 22, 2024
In her keynote address at the Eucharistic Congress, Gloria Purvis warned that disloyalty to Pope Francis, the sin of racism and putting political parties above God threaten the unity of the Catholic Church.
Gloria PurvisJuly 22, 2024