‘From the Cross to the Empty Tomb’

CLIFTON  As Catholics well know, our lives as Christians are filled with our great joy in our salvation in the Risen Christ but are not immune to our great doubts, sufferings and trials as believers. So this Lent, Bishop Serratelli invites the faithful to become more strengthened in their own spiritual journeys by walking with the people who spent Jesus’ last hours with him on earth, as found in his new book, “From the Cross to the Empty Tomb.”

Published by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. of Totowa in the Paterson Diocese, the 96-page small book offers spiritual reflections on the main characters in the Gospels just before and after Jesus’ Resurrection. They include: Peter, Judas, Barabbas, the crowd, the Good Thief, Mary, the Centurion and Mary Magdalene, as well as others. The soft-cover book also includes images of paintings and descriptions of the Stations of the Cross.

“Our faith centers on the Paschal Mystery. The book invites people to come into the mystery of salvation more deeply,” Bishop Serratelli told The Beacon. “I tried to combine good biblical scholarship with spiritual insights into these events.”

Catholic Book Publishing Corp. is offering a discount on the price of “From the Cross to the Empty Tomb” for the people of the Diocese. The modest price “will make it easy for more parishes and individuals to use this book,” Msgr. James Mahoney, diocesan vicar general and moderator of the Curia and pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, Chatham Township, wrote in a recent letter to parish and catechetical leaders (see ad to order on this page).

In the book’s introduction, Bishop Serratelli retells the story, according to tradition, when Peter fled Rome with other Christians under the emperor Nero who was persecuting them. During his escape, Peter stopped at the Church of St. Mary in Palmis, where he met Jesus — already risen from the dead — headed back into Rome. Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” So Peter followed Jesus back to Rome, where he was crucified — transformed by the Lord’s strength from being fearful to becoming the courageous apostle who willingly gave his life in witness to Jesus, he writes.

“The life of every Christian is a continual sharing in the cross. Not just in the first century of ancient Rome but also in every age, there is the temptation to run, like Peter, from the hostility and persecution that we face in living as a true follower of Jesus. The world does not value all that Jesus taught,” Bishop Serratelli writes. “As Christians, we make our life-journey in union with Christ Crucified. The via cruces [the way of the cross] is the school of Christian life. As Peter once asked Jesus, the world questions each of us today, ‘Quo Vadis?’ — ‘Where are you going?’ [in Latin]. It will help each of us respond to this question by accompanying Jesus on the way to the cross,” he writes.

In the first chapter, readers meet Peter, whom Jesus renamed from Simon to “Peter” — rock — upon which he built his Church (see Mt 16:18). Peter had great loyalty to Jesus — even wielding a sword during Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, ready to join him in overthrowing Rome (see Jn 18:10). Yet Peter bears out Jesus’ prediction that his faith would falter. After the Last Supper, Peter denies Jesus, three times (Mk 14:72).

“Jesus looked at Peter. Peter could deny Jesus at a distance. But when he is close enough for Jesus to look at him, he can no longer stand apart…The sinner is never out of the Lord’s sight,” Bishop Serratelli writes. “His look is beyond that of the judge pronouncing the sentence of guilty. As long as we are on this earth, his look is that of the compassionate savior, who longs to lift us up… Through her faithful preaching of the Gospel and her celebration of the Sacraments, the Church brings sinners face to face with the Savior, whose look of love can melt sin away and move the hardest heart to tears,” he writes.

Appropriately, the Bishop ends “From the Cross to the Empty Tomb” with Mary Magdalene. After Jesus’ death, she visits his tomb, notices that the stone has been rolled away and the body is gone and runs to tell the others. Later, after Peter leaves the tomb area, Mary sees the Risen Lord, but does not recognize him at first. Sorrow clouds her vision. She accuses him of taking away the body. But Jesus says only one word, “Mary” — “Her name. The tenderness.” She responds quickly, saying “Rabbouni, teacher.”

“It is the word that Jesus speaks to Mary and her welcoming that word that gift her with Easter faith. It is the same word that Jesus continues to speak in his Church to us. By accepting the word proclaimed in the praeconium paschale [the Easter proclamation] and in the preaching of the Church, we enter into our dialogue of faith with the Risen Lord,” Bishop Serratelli writes. “Through the word of Jesus, Mary Magdalene came to faith. Now she bears that word to others…Those, who truly believe, always become, like Mary, eager to tell others of the joy of knowing the Risen Lord,” he writes.

In the book’s conclusion, Bishop Serratelli writes, “The Easter message gives us strength to respond to his [Jesus’] call. By his Resurrection, he gifts us with the Holy Spirit, who enables us to face life’s bitter disappointments and even death itself.”

“We look into the empty tomb and see the bright promise of our own bodily resurrection. We have already died with Christ in baptism and have risen with him to new life in the Spirit (see Rm 6:4-6),” Bishop Serratelli writes. “And one day — and it is sure to come — the Father will raise us up bodily from our dusty graves to heaven’s glory. For those united to Christ Crucified and Risen, God will take every sorrow and turn it into sweetness. He will transform all grief into glory. And, even now, he makes the sunset of death itself give way to the dawning of eternal life,” the Bishop writes.

“Our Bishop is highly respected as a teacher of the Scriptures. This book shows his gift as communicating the reality and relevance of the Scriptures for every age,” Msgr. Mahoney wrote. “The book uses the best of biblical scholarship to understand and to connect with the people, who were around the cross of Jesus. This can be a wonderful tool of evangelization and spirituality for our people,” he wrote.

The retail price of “From the Cross to the Empty Tomb” is $5.95. Catholic Book Publishing Corp. is offering a 40 percent discount for orders up to to 24 copies and a 50 percent discount for orders of 25 copies or more. Use promo code: Bishop.

[Information: call Catholic Book Publishing Corp. at (877) 228-2665 or visit www.catholicbookpublishing.com].