ST. THOMAS AQUINAS wrote on Christ’s burial in the tomb:
The sepulchre is a figure by which is signified the contemplation of heavenly things. So, St.
Gregory, commenting on the words of Job (iii. 22), They rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave says, “As in the grave the body is hidden away when dead, so in divine contemplation there lies concealed the soul, dead to the world. There, at rest from the world s clamour, it lies, in a three days burial through, as it were, its triple immersion in baptism. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face from the disturbance of men (Ps. xxx. 21). Those in great trouble, tormented with the hates of men, enter in spirit the presence of God and they are at rest.”
Three things are required for this spiritual burial in God, namely, that the mind be perfected by the virtues, that the mind be all bright and shining with purity, and that it be wholly dead
to this world. All these things are shown figuratively in the burial of Christ. Read More »