Holy Saturday

 Holy Saturday may be my favorite day of the Triduum. The Three Days Catholics spend reflecting upon Jesus' betrayal, suffering, death, and Resurrection includes powerful liturgies with meaningful symbols and inspiring words. But immediately following the drama of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, there's silence. Jesus is dead and all His promises to rise on the third day seem foolish, even to his closest apostles. There's no liturgy to mark this day. The Church, for the most part, is still. We wait outside the tomb.

There is a devotion, though, that expresses the heavy quiet of Holy Saturday. It isn't assigned to that day specifically, but many parishes, including my own, practice it then. At the Tenebrae service, a candelabra or series of candles is lit, the only light in a dark room. A reader proclaims Scripture that recall the Suffering Servant and loving sacrifice. After each reading, one of the candles is extinguished. Soon they are all blown out, and participants leave quietly. In it's simple, subtle way, it captures the spirit of Holy Saturday: There's so much loss. What's left for us? 

Its a heavy stillness that we don't often sit with. There are a number of reasons for that, some very practical. The Easter meal doesn't cook itself and the Church needs to be decorated. Maybe there just isn't time. And we know He rises from the dead! At this point in history, it's a foregone conclusion. But when Jesus triumphed over death, it was a miracle that only God could pull off. It was a huge plot twist that amazed and surprised the most devout believers. It brought a level of hope and joy into the world that changed everything! That victory over sin and death meant so much more to people who, just the day before, probably thought it was game over. Many, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, had given up hope. 

Holy Saturday is part of the roller coaster ride that is the Triduum, because to rise with Christ we must experience His death. So I invite you to linger outside the tomb. Stay with the horror and pain of the last two days. When the sun rises, it'll be that much more beautiful.

Because this stillness is heavy with potential energy. This scientific principle has much to say about how Holy Saturday becomes Easter Sunday. It might be what's at the heart of our activity on Holy Saturday, the impetus for action. The tension of the waiting becomes motion when Jesus rises, taking us with Him. As it says in an ancient homily about Holy Saturday: "Something strange is happening-- there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles in fear." 

Salvation is not just for the living. We often think that believers who walk the earth-- you and me-- can be saved. But Jesus also raised up all who have fallen asleep! Before the Resurrection, there was no heaven or hell, because death was the end. But when Jesus rose, He opened the gates of heaven for all. The ancient homily goes on to describe how Adam and Eve get to go first, promised that "The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity." 

I wish you all the blessings of joy this Easter. He is Risen. Alleluia!