Late one evening, when my companion and I had the responsibility for closing up the Pavilion for the night, and when we were cleaning up in the Joseph Smith room thinking we were alone in the building, I looked down the long hallway and saw a solitary figure, dressed in black, standing in front of the Christus. As I approached him from behind to tell him that we were closed, I noticed that his shoulders were shuddering and realized that he was crying. I gently put my hand on his shoulder and he turned toward me revealing his priest’s collar. I recognized him as one of the elderly priests that guided tours in the Catholic pavilion.
I asked if anything was wrong, and he answered with words that I have never forgotten. “No,” he said, still staring up at the Christus, “It’s just that I was thinking….we have the dead Christ, and you have the risen Lord.” In that brief moment, it was clear to me that he was speaking of more than the two statues, and I left the fairgrounds that night more grateful than I had ever been for our focus on the resurrection rather than on the cross and for the vibrancy of the restored and living Church to which I belong.
Of all the things that we can teach our children, perhaps none is more important than the resurrected reality of Christ and His once-here, then-lost, and finally-restored Church.
Meridian Magazine - “We have the Dead Christ, you have the Risen Lord”
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