The world seems to be standing still for a moment. All the frenzied activities of the past days were put to a halt. The Church is empty. It has given me enough time to reflect and listen. These are the words that entered my mind: DARKNESS and SILENCE.

After the death of Jesus, the world is enveloped in silence and darkness as the Lord is entombed in cave. In that stillness the world awaits the fulfillment of the promise. It is something welcomed and dreaded. It is easy to understand why it is a welcomed event. But why would it be something dreaded? For many of those who desired the death of Jesus, it is a judgment on their folly and close-mindedness. They would have to admit that they have been wrong all along. 

Jesus had used the parable of the seed in His teaching in some occasions and in varied instances. But in all its usage there is common denominator: the seed in order to grow it has to “die” first. The seed has to be buried into the earth. Its outer shell breaks open. It is only then that the seed starts to germinate, to take root, and then to grow. All of these happen in silence and darkness. 

Jesus welcomed this when He is entombed that we may not be afraid of the silence and darkness that we are called to experience in our own journey. We need to still the urge in us to freak out. Yes, silence and darkness can be intimidating especially to those who are used to the noise and the frenzied activities that we call as our ordinary way of life. 

One reason for these noise and activities that we enveloped ourselves in is our own reality of feeling alone. Despite the advancement of technology and mass communication we still find ourselves alone. Despite our close proximity with others, we still find ourselves alienated. Despite the fact that we have greater capacity to have more, our life still feels empty. Something is amiss. And instead of discovering a much better way of living, we continue to dig into our own grave of misery and alienation. We are like the seed in the pouches or cans unable to grow and reach our fullest potentials. We are in wrong situation of darkness and silence. 

Jesus has to enter into our own “place of hell” that He may draw us out of our prison and receive the grace of life and become more alive. He brings to the fore the ageless and timeless truth that we keep on forgetting and neglecting. It was necessary for Jesus to die before we are able to understand what He was saying. And until now continues to call us out of our own graves. 

As we await the stirring of new life within us, let us embrace this moment of darkness and silence and enter into the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. 

We are like seed waiting for the time break out of the shell. The first to grow out of the seed is the root. We are being called to immerse ourselves into the rich grace of God’s mercy and love - to be rooted in Him. For only by this act can we begin to draw into ourselves the grace to begin our growth out of the darkness into the wondrous light of a new life.