Twenty Centuries on, Peter's Successor at the Empty Tomb
by Giuseppe Caffulli | May 15, 2009
Pope Benedict in prayer at the Empty Tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Only a few hundred metres separate the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate from the Holy Sepulchre. The Pope crossed this distance on foot to reach the parvis of the Basilica of the Resurrection -- as the Eastern Churches prefer to call it. He was met here by the Custos of the Holy land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who took him into the holiest place in Christianity.
The pilgrimage by Benedict XVI to the Holy Land came to an end with his visit to the Sepulchre. His eight day journey was marked by moments of intense emotional impact and great spiritual significance. With each step, it increasingly took on the appearance of an itinerary of peace.
This is a land of contradictions: very present are wounds of a land crushed by the conflict between two peoples, but it's also a region that yearns for peace and tranquillity. The Pope's itinerary was also important in terms of reconciliation between religions, which have the great responsibility of directing men towards the common good and building a society that can accept diversity as a richness.
After having kneeled at the Stone of the Anointing, placed a few metres from the entrance to commemorate the place where the corpse of Jesus was wrapped in the shroud, the Holy Father entered the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre. The Custos Father addressed a message to him, expressing the gratitude of the Custody of the Holy Land for the presence of Peter's successor in the place of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
"It is with great and sincere gratitude that today we welcome you here, to the Basilica of the Resurrection where Calvary and the Empty Tomb are evidence for us of the two greatest signs of love that Jesus, Son of God, in obedient freedom, made visible and tangible for our salvation," the Custos said.
"Your pilgrimage to the Holy Land ends here, at the Sepulchre where Christ is absent. How can we fail to recall at this time the race by Peter the apostle to the Sepulchre, together with the disciple that Jesus loved, immediately after His resurrection? Since then, millions of pilgrims have come here to repeat the same gesture. To come and see the Sepulchre empty. To bend down to enter the Sepulchre and touch these stones, witnesses down to the present day, of that extraordinary event.
"These stones have seen the miracle of life that defeated death. We believe for the faith of Peter, for the greeting and order given to Mary Magdalene; we believe for the doubts of Thomas... We believe for the force of the Spirit that the Church cherishes and hands down. The message of the empty Sepulchre is not a sort of tribute of piety, but on the contrary is an announcement of joy and momentum, always looking beyond the horizon to catch a glimpse of dawn as it breaks.
"But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you,'" (Mark 16, 7). In Galilee, in the Cenacle, wherever man plants his tent and breaks his bread, in joy or in grief, He goes before us. This is the message of this Place: to have the soul willing to follow Him everywhere."
At the end of Father Custos's address, Benedict XVI entered the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre on his own, crossing the vestibule called the Chapel of the Angel. He knelt for a few minutes in prayer before the empty tomb of Christ. Lastly, he stood outside, in front of the shrine, at the entrance to the Greeks' Choir where - still staring at the place of Christ's Resurrection - he listened to the final address of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Mons. Fouad Twal.
"Holiness," the Patriarch said, "today we sing the Te Deum for your presence amongst us and to express the joy of a pilgrimage that has been able to take place in the best of ways, despite the difficulties and contradictions of the situation of this land.
"Golgotha and the place of the Resurrection are truly near one another," he said in conclusion. "We hope that your visit to the Holy Land and the commitment of the Church helps the international community to realize the need to forcefully take on the subject of peace and justice and the urgency to settle the questions linked to the conflict. Spurred on by the force of the Resurrection, we assure you in the meantime that neither the occupation, nor injustice, nor the culture of death will discourage us and extinguish our joy."
The long-awaited speech by the Pope at the Sepulchre took as its starting point the Gospel of St. John, relating the visit of Peter and the loved Disciple to the empty tomb on Easter morning. "Today, at a distance of some twenty centuries, Peter's Successor, the Bishop of Rome, stands before that same empty tomb and contemplates the mystery of the Resurrection. Following in the footsteps of the Apostle, I wish to proclaim anew, to the men and women of our time, the Church's firm faith that Jesus Christ "was crucified, died and was buried" and that on "the third day he rose from the dead." Exalted at the right hand of the Father, he has sent us his Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. Apart from him, whom God has made Lord and Christ, "there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4,12).
"Standing in this holy place and pondering that wondrous event, how can we not be "cut to the heart" (cf. Acts 2,37), like those who first heard Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost? Here Christ died and rose, never to die again. Here the history of humanity was decisively changed. The long reign of sin and death was shattered by the triumph of obedience and life; the wood of the Cross lay bare the truth about good and evil; God's judgement was passed on this world and the grace of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon humanity. Here Christ, the new Adam, taught us that evil never has the last word, that love is stronger than death, that our future, and the future of all humanity, lies in the hands of a faithful and provident God."
In the place of Christ's death and Resurrection, the Pope then spoke of man's weakness but also the hope which does not disappoint because it is for eternal life.
"The empty tomb speaks to us of hope, the hope that does not disappoint because it is the gift of the Spirit of life (cf. Rom 5,5). This is the message that I wish to leave with you today, at the conclusion of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land," the Pope said. "May hope rise up ever anew, by God's grace, in the hearts of all the people dwelling in these lands! May it take root in your hearts, abide in your families and communities and inspire in each of you an ever more faithful witness to the Prince of Peace. The Church in the Holy Land, which has so often experienced the dark mystery of Golgotha, must never cease to be an intrepid herald of the luminous message of hope that this empty tomb proclaims. The Gospel reassures us that God can make all things new, that history need not be repeated, that memories can be healed, that the bitter fruits of recrimination and hostility can be overcome and that a future of justice, peace, prosperity and cooperation can arise for every man and woman, for the whole human family and in a special way for the people who dwell in this land, so dear to the heart of the Saviour."
At the end, the Pope had words of thanks and encouragement for the faithful, but also for the bishops and priests who live in this Holy Land: "I pray that the Church in the Holy Land will always draw new strength from her contemplation of the empty tomb of the Saviour. In that tomb she is called to bury all her anxieties and fears, in order to rise again each day and continue her journey through the streets of Jerusalem, Galilee and beyond, proclaiming the triumph of Christ's forgiveness and the promise of new life. As Christians, we know that the peace for which this strife-torn land yearns has a name: Jesus Christ. "He is our peace", who reconciled us to God in one body through the Cross, bringing an end to hostility (cf Eph 2,14). Into his hands, than, let us entrust all our hope fir the future, just as in the hour of darkness he entrusted his spirit into the Father's hands.
"Allow me to conclude with a special word of fraternal encouragement to my brother Bishops and priests, and to the men and women religious who serve the beloved Church in the Holy Land. Here, before the empty tomb, at the very heart of the Church, I invite you to rekindle the enthusiasm of your consecration to Christ and your commitment to loving service of his mystical Body. Yours is the immense privilege of bearing witness to Christ in this, the land which he sanctified by his earthly presence and ministry. In pastoral charity, enable your brothers and sisters, and all the inhabitants of this land, to feel the healing presence and the reconciling love of the Risen One. Jesus asks each of us to be a witness of unity and peace for all those who live in this City of Peace."