I once heard someone say, “May you leave many tombs behind you.” It’s a shocking statement in many ways. “Tomb” implies that there has been a death. Who wants to die? But the statement also implies a resurrection. If we are “leaving a tomb behind,” that means that somehow we have been resurrected and you have gotten up and walked out of the tomb.

We are living out the Gospel story of life, Death, Resurrection—the Paschal mystery—throughout our lives; whenever we experience a loss, or life doesn’t turn out the way we want, or we have to give up a dream. During those dark times, a part of us dies, but the story doesn’t end. We get up and walk out of the tomb into new life. I cling to the Resurrection story. It is the rhythm of my life. It gives my suffering context. It gives me hope.