Pulling off an all-nighter is done for many different reasons: the student who procrastinated and now needs to spend all night cramming for the next day's exam, the mom who is up all night with her sick child, or the business man who has to work through the night in order to meet a deadline. The day following an all-nighter is never easy—and to be sure, they are always filled with an unhealthy amount of coffee.
Today is one of those days for many of us. However, we were not up all night because we were cramming for the upcoming exam for our Prophets class; nor were we up all night trying to meet the upcoming deadline for our Medieval History paper. We pulled an all-nighter because we spent all night in a tomb—the tomb our Savior was laid in and later rose from.
A handful of us choose last night to be locked in the Church of The Holy Sepulcher. In order to be locked in we must be at the church before they close at 7:00pm. Once inside, the doors are locked until 4:00am the following morning. The church is dark, cold, and quiet (other than the almost continuous liturgies by the Orthodox, Armenians, and Franciscans).
So, is today a struggle? Yes, but that is okay. It's okay because the night was spent in the tomb that our Savior was laid. It's okay because the night was spent in the tomb where God laid dead—his cold, quiet, lifeless body. It's okay because the night was spent in the spot where sin was conquered and death was defeated. It's okay because the night was spent where everlasting life was sprung.
Our prayer is that the graces and insights we gained from our night in the Holy Sepulcher will radiate out in our priesthood; that our future parishioners will gain from our sleepless night in the tomb.
It's okay that we are tired today—besides there is nothing wrong with an unhealthy amount of coffee once-in-a-while.
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