Cardinal Leonardo Steiner invites us to contemplate the empty tomb not as an absence, but as an inner journey that prepares the heart for the encounter with the Risen One.
In the context of the Easter celebration, Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of Manaus and president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), offers a profound spiritual reflection that begins with Mary Magdalene’s initial bewilderment at the empty tomb.
The Gospel account presents a scene rich in humanity: the stone rolled away, the open tomb, and the absence of the Lord’s body. Mary Magdalene, overcome with emotion, does not even approach to verify, but runs to find Peter and John. In this gesture, Cardinal Steiner recognizes a profoundly human experience: in the face of pain and loss, the heart seeks refuge, comfort, and community.
Peter and the Beloved Disciple arrive at the tomb. They see the bandages, the signs, the remnants of a presence that is no longer there. Yet they do not yet understand. The empty tomb does not immediately reveal the Resurrection; rather, it confronts them with emptiness, with absence, with silence.
For the president of CEAMA, this emptiness is not barren. On the contrary, it is a fertile space that opens a path: the path of faith. It is not a matter of obvious certainties or tangible assurances, but of an inner experience that takes shape in the midst of apparent absence.
“The emptiness of the tomb,” suggests Steiner, “also empties the soul of false certainties, of rigid concepts, of deceptive appearances, preparing the heart for the true encounter with the Risen One.”
Drawing on the mystical tradition, particularly the thought of Meister Eckhart, the cardinal emphasizes that a free, unburdened, and open soul is capable of recognizing the presence of Love beyond visible signs. Thus, the rolled-away stone opens not only the tomb but also the believer’s inner self.
This Easter reading resonates powerfully with the reality of the Amazon and with the ecclesial processes accompanied by CEAMA: communities that, amid challenges, uncertainties, and wounds, are called to walk by faith, even when answers are not immediate.
The empty tomb, then, is not the end of the story, but its threshold. It is preparation, openness, readiness. Only from that emptiness can the proclamation that transforms history emerge: life has conquered death.
Finally, the message culminates in the proclamation that gives meaning to all Christian hope: “He has risen! Seek the Living One among the living.”
An invitation to recognize that, even in the deepest silences, God continues to act and call us to new life.