The Empty Tomb

Day 1: God's Love for You

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 19:15:20 -0500

A couple of friends of mine, upon finding out they were pregnant, prepared their house for the new arrival. They cleared out a storage space to make into a baby room, and painted it like the inside of a Dr. Seuss book. Every weekend, the father spent all his time making that room as beautiful as it could be. It became a symbol of love from a father to his future son.

In the biblical story of creation (Genesis 1), God creates a "room" for us, his children. He makes a paradise, and then creates us and puts us gently in the middle of it. After creating something (the sea, the sun, the stars, etc.) He says, "It is good." But after creating us, He says, "It is very good."

Very good? The mountains, stars, and skies are good, but we are very good?

Wow. The majesty of the universe is just a sign of God's awesome love for you. This is not an "infatuation" type of love. This is the love a parent has for his or her child. This is the kind of love that a husband has for his wife, and wife for her husband.

When I dropped on one knee and proposed to my future wife, I pledged to live my entire life with her. I didn't want to love her from afar- I wanted to spend every moment with her, to become intimate with her. I wanted a relationship with her, and I asked her to commit to a relationship with me.

Upon seeing my great love for her, she had to respond. You can't just be proposed to and try to change the subject. I asked, waited, and rejoiced as she broke into tears and said, "Yes!"

All of creation is crying out to you now as the Creator of the universe bows down and asks you to be in a relationship with Him. Such an act of love demands our response. He has asked, and is waiting. And as we say yes, a great celebration begins.

As you begin this journey of love, meditate upon the Bible verses, and allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the love that God has for you. And if you haven't already said yes to God in your heart, do so. What we are embarking upon is more than just religion. It is a relationship with Love itself, and a commitment to be faithful to the One who has faith in us.

Day 2: What is Sin?

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 18:00:10 -0500

Our reading in Genesis 3 can make us wonder about God. If God is all knowing, then why did He put the tree there in the first place? Didn't He know Adam and Eve would eat from it? If God was all present, where was He when they were tempted? If God is all powerful, why did He let this happen? And what's so bad about eating from "the tree of knowledge of good and evil"?

Well, Adam and Eve already knew what was good and what was evil, because they were created in the image of God. So what did the fruit offer? Listen to the words of the serpent: "You will be like gods." The tree didn't offer the ability to see what was good and what was evil. It gave the ability to choose good or evil.

In other words, things that God says are wrong, we can say are right. Things that God asks of us, we can deny. We start to justify things, and convince ourselves that we are right, and God is wrong. Adolf Hitler murdered millions of Jews, Catholics, and others- yet biographers say he never felt guilty. Why? Because he convinced himself that what he was doing was right.

In sin we decide to become our own gods. We ignore the Creator and follow our own selfish desires. It's a rebellion against God, but we actually end up hurting ourselves. God can live without us, but we can't live without God.

When we turn against God, He has every right to turn away from us. But He never does. He loves us so much that He gives us a way to overcome even the worst sin in our lives.

God wants a relationship with us. A real love relationship can't be forced, it has to be chosen. God had to offer us a choice that is, FREE WILL. That's why the tree was in the garden. That's why He allowed us to eat it. He allows us to freely choose what we want, in the hopes that we will freely choose Him.

Pray for an awareness of sin in your life, and offer those sins up to God. It is only when we say we're sorry that we can hear the words "I forgive you." And if you haven't gone recently, you should go receive the wonderful graces offered to you in the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Day 3: The Power of the Cross

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 16:28:33 -0500

God created us for eternity, but we chose to live for the moment instead. He wanted to be our God, but we wanted to be our own. So we left God. The consequence of that choice was our death. Not just physically, but spiritually as well.

Most people assume they will get to heaven, but many people don't follow God in their daily lives. They seem to think that if God is so good, how can He send people to hell? And for that matter, if God is so good, how can a place like Hell even exist?

Well, Jesus clearly tells us that Hell does exist. It's not so much a place that God sends us to, it's a place to which we send ourselves by the lives we live. It's the ultimate separation from God, a separation that we have established in this life an eternal separation from the peace, joy, love, and goodness of God.

Our actions in this life affect our destiny in the next. If we spend our earthly lives apart from God, how can we expect to spend our eternity with Him? It would be like a poor person falling in love with someone who just won the lottery. It wouldn't be true love, but rather love of money. In the same way, there are people who don't love God but who still expect to go to heaven.

It doesn't work that way. Sin brought death into the world, and separation from God. Jesus came into this world to die for us, and bring us once again into union with Him. Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead offers us a new life. When He uttered the words "it is finished," He was referring to the triumph over our sins, which started all the way back in Genesis 3.

Through Christ, there is nothing that can't be forgiven. And only Christ's sacrifice for us can pay the debt we owe to God (and each other) for our sins. By accepting Christ's sacrifice for us, we can be part of God's family again- in this life, and in the next.

The cross shows us that Jesus has the desire to forgive any sin and restore our relationship with Him. Take time to pray before a crucifix, thanking Him for his love. Reflect on the beauty of John 3:16, and commit the verse to memory.

Day 4: Being Born Again

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 15:29:32 -0500

The first reading in Jeremiah refers to a covenant. A covenant with someone made you a part of their family. To seal a covenant they would sacrifice an animal, and both parties would be sprinkled in the blood of that sacrifice to show they were bound together for life.

In the Old Testament, God made a covenant with the Jews. They broke this covenant many times, and suffered because of it. But in the midst of their trials, God planned a new covenant; a covenant written upon their hearts that would extend beyond the Jews to include all people.

We enter into this new covenant through our Baptism. In place of the sacrificial animal, we now have Jesus, the "Lamb of God," whose blood marks us as part of God's family. We become His children. Our sin is washed away in the waters of Baptism, through the sacrifice of Christ. In Baptism, we die to our old selves, and are "born again," or resurrected, with Christ.

Baptism is essential for our salvation. It is our acceptance of the new covenant that God offers to us. Many of us don't remember our Baptism. Our parents made the decision for us. But even if we were unaware of what was happening, the grace still occurred. Even in our infancy God heard the cry of our parents and welcomed us back into His home. Your current awakening of faith is just a flowering of the seed planted in you at your Baptism.

If you haven't been baptized, then you should start working now to get baptized. There is a beautiful process in the Catholic Church called the "Catechumenate," which you can find out about at your local church.

Do you know what date you were baptized? Find out, because that is truly the day of your birth. Baptism washed away the sin that we inherited from Adam and Eve (also known as "original sin"), and now we have become children of God. We must reclaim our baptism every day. Blessing yourself with holy water and the sign of the cross is a reminder of the new life into which you have been born.

Day 5: Faith (The Verb)

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 14:31:24 -0500

Our society thinks that faith refers to what we believe in, but faith is more than just an intellectual exercise. It refers not only to what we believe, but also to how we live. Faith inspires action. For example, if I had faith that the lottery numbers were going to be 2253417082, but that faith didn't inspire me to buy a ticket, what good would it do me? What we believe should affect how we live.

Faith starts in the intellect, but ends in the heart. The more you learn about God, the more your life will change. Can you see areas in your life that are changing? That is because faith is at work in you. Maybe you are not giving into sin as easily. Maybe you are being kinder to people. Or maybe you are just seeing life in a whole new way.

Those are signs of a growing faith. Faith is like a sixth sense, it allows us to see beyond what our other senses tell us. It doesn't deny our other senses, it enhances them, giving us information above and beyond them. Faith allows us to see hidden realities that are truly present, so we can "walk by faith, not by sight." For example, faith enables us to "see" God in the Eucharist.

Our faith is not blind, as many unbelievers think. Our faith is based on the authority of God, who has revealed Himself to us. Many people put faith in what doctors or scientists say about things, even if they don’t know them! We put our faith in the Creator of the universe, who loves us so much that He died on a cross for us.

Faith is a virtue. As we grow in our Christian faith, we grow in our virtues. Virtues are like spiritual muscles. The more we work on them, the stronger they get. We must always seek an active faith that is active in learning and active in living. Pray for ways you can put your faith into action.

Day 6: The Choice

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 13:32:03 -0500

Our faith is filled with mountain and valley experiences. Maybe you are coming off of a mountaintop yourself. Perhaps you were at a retreat, or a rally, or a great meeting where you felt the love of God overwhelm you, but now you're coming down from that "spiritual high."

That's normal. In fact, it is necessary in order to grow in your faith. Our God is not a spiritual drug pusher! If all we are looking for from Him is a continual spiritual high, then our hearts aren't in the right place.

I love my wife, but sometimes she can be tough to love. I am sure she can say the same thing about me. There are times when I might not feel like loving her, but I still do. And that is when I love her the most! I can truly love her when I choose to love, regardless of the circumstances.

If you have gotten this far in the devotional, you have obviously chosen to follow God. But a time will come (and maybe it has come already) when living out that commitment will be difficult. "Don't be surprised," writes St. Peter in Scripture, "as though something strange were happening to you." It's normal. It's necessary. For if, in that moment of darkness or doubt, you can still say yes to God, then that is one of the greatest signs of love and commitment you can offer to Him. True love happens when you can follow regardless of whether or not it "feels good."

Love is not a feeling, it is a decision. You must decide to love God. But know this: God is patient with you. He understands our sinfulness and our weaknesses. On this journey with Christ, we fall many times. We do not have to be perfect in order to come to Him; we come to Him in order that we may be perfected. And when we fall, we must turn our hearts to God so He can pick us up and get us back on the path.

Pray for the courage to follow Christ when it is the most difficult. Ask for His help and His grace to be faithful. Decide to be a saint, and then be patient with yourself as God makes you into one. Only He can bring you to holiness, only you can let Him do it. And rejoice! God will bring you back to the mountaintop again. Meditate upon Psalm 23.

Day 7:The Meaning of Life

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 12:33:48 -0500

Maybe you have come to a place in your life where you're asking, "What's the point?" We work hard in high school to get to college. We work in college to get a job. We get a job so we can pay bills. Then we die. It's like a bumper sticker: "Birth School Work Death." Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

There is no purpose in life without our Creator. Trying to find a meaning in life without God would be like a television trying to find a purpose without ever being plugged into the wall. It could be a table or a doorstop, but it would never live up to the fullness of what it was created to be.

We were created for God. It's that simple. This life is an extremely brief time (especially compared to eternity) in which we have the chance to freely choose Christ. It's not just a "suffer now and get paid later" kind of deal. Jesus offers life in abundance. The kingdom of God begins here! We celebrate it at every Mass. We experience it in the deep love we give and receive from others. We can taste a small bit of heaven on earth, so that our lives are no longer meaningless, but meaningful.

Our lives are incomplete without a relationship with God. As St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in You." Jesus is the missing piece in our empty soul. Plugging into Him gives us the fullness of life that we were created for.

Does this mean that everything will be great from here on out? No. Christianity does not offer a life free of suffering. But on the cross we see that our suffering no longer needs to end in death, but can bring new life. This is the hope God offers us that the world cannot give. Our home is with Him forever.

Pray about what Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21. Think about the things you spend your time on. Do any of them have eternal significance? (Do they bring you or others closer to God?) If you find that meaningless things are getting in the way of meaningful ones, maybe you should cut them out of your life. Think about how you can spend your time on this earth so that you can build up treasures in heaven.

Good job! You’ve finished the first week! Celebrate with a tasty cookie.