Heights that do not frighten us

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

Being on a ledge makes us feel dizzy. Many people are scared of heights even from a small height. But one can fear the emptiness in many ways: memory lapse, inner void, psychological void, cosmic void... But what is the meaning of the empty tomb of Jesus? On one hand it reminds us of an absence: when two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, asked Mary Magdalene: “Woman, why are you crying?”. She answered: “They have taken my Lord away”. On the other hand the men tell the women: “why do you look for the living among the dead?”. In Eastern philosophy emptiness is not negative because the void can be filled. So according to the Kabbalah God began the process of creation by “contracting” himself descending into that void where. He emanated, created and formed all the worlds. This is called “tzimtzum”. Before the empty tomb Christians should not think about death but about life because Jesus resurrected from death, it is a triumph over the empty grave. The message that comes from the empty tomb is that there is an everlasting hope. The strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth belonged…