“There is a great silence on the earth today, a great silence and stillness”. Holy Saturday was thus once described in an ancient homily.
Today throughout the world our churches are symbolically empty of the Blessed Sacrament, their tabernacle lights extinguished, and their altars stripped.
So, what shall we make of this time… this interval? Should we just go on about business as usual until we pick up our Holy Week observance at sunset?
During Holy Week the significance of Holy Saturday is easily overlooked with the liturgies of Good Friday and Easter Sunday taking up the bulk of our attention. What about Saturday, this “in- between” day? How do we make sense of it?
To enter the spirit of this unique day we gather here to reflect and keep vigil at the Lord’s tomb. We can keep this day holy by letting the sense of its mystery enter us. Holy Saturday should perhaps be for us one of the most contemplative days of the Christian year.
After the witnessing the drama of Friday, an immense silence descended on the disciples. We find ourselves somewhat out of step with them for we know the sequel to Good Friday. We are certain that Easter will come, as it already has.
However nearly two thousand years ago today, the disciples of Jesus were without words of faith, having witnessed their friend’s execution and having come face to face with their own betrayal of him. They were numbed by the sadness and confusion of the moment into inactivity. They could only wait.
Let us not rush too quickly to the resurrection and miss the significance of this day of waiting. Let us not rush but rather pause and remain awhile with the disciples in this time span between Friday and Sunday. These moments described as “the world was still, the tears fresh, the grave sealed- the darkest day past, a brighter morning imminent- but waiting.” which were posted on the website Acoustic Tide.
Perhaps the mood of the first Holy Saturday might be felt as captured so well on the same website: “God was silent, though it was a pregnant silence; those who endured it were blind to any evidence of the arriving joy. “It was as if God stood speechless, holding his breath and waiting a moment to utter the holiest of words in response: resurrection.”
The quietness of this day invites us to ponder the enormity of Mary’s and the disciples’ experience. Perhaps Holy Saturday as well let us entertain how life might be for us without the reality of resurrection and the possibility of new life. Today affords us the spaciousness of time to reflective leisurely upon the course of our own faith journey. An opportunity to realize the difference the gift of faith makes in our lives.
Tina Beattie asserts that “there is a fragile link which connects the tragedy of Good Friday to the promise of Easter Sunday. Th[is] link is - to dare to believe … [I]t was surely the challenge which faced Mary and the faithful disciples throughout the long day when the tomb was sealed and silent.” Our life situations also at times challenge our own faith. Our fragile belief is fortified by our willingness to hope in spite of the circumstances. We too need to dare to believe.
Alan E. Lewis in his book “Between Cross & Resurrection reflects: “Holy Saturday is significant because it exists “as that day between days, which speaks solely neither of the cross nor of the resurrection, but simultaneously remembers the one and awaits the other, and guarantees that neither will be heard or thought about, or lived, without the other.” (Lewis, 2001)
Today let us hold still as we inevitability shift our attention between the mystery of the cross and the mystery of the resurrection and the part each of them plays in the pattern of our lives.
“There is a great silence on the earth today, a great silence and stillness”.
Nancy Wales