Reflections

The Strangeness of Holy Saturday 

My enduring memory of Holy Saturday evokes a sense of a strange emptiness and endless waiting in a dark void. This final day of lent follows the dramatic liturgy of Good Friday.  At the end of the Friday service, altar coverings are removed leaving a bare altar and an empty tabernacle. We are left to meditate on the suffering and death of Jesus in a liturgical vacuum.  Saturday’s bewildering atmosphere is one of restless waiting.  We are part of a suffering universe longing for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of resurrection and redemption.  This day we dwell in hope.    

Crown Of Thorns With Royal Shadow Watercolor Digital Art by Allan Swart

This state of emptiness throughout Holy Saturday prepares us for the Easter Vigil which traditionally begins on the same evening. The strange atmosphere of Holy Saturday increases our longing to celebrate the Easter drama which renews and strengthens our faith.  We are ready to rejoice in professing that we and all that exists have been created by a God who loves, forgives, and redeems us.  

Our world is full of suffering caused by hate, wars, greed, and the destruction of our planet. Yet, amid this chaos, there is much love to be found in the work done by so many ordinary people to care for persons and the earth.  Love, not force, violence, or punishment brings about change.  Easter is the most important feast in the liturgical calendar.  It is a celebration of our faith in God who will not abandon what He has created.  The victory of Jesus’ resurrection is a celebration of great joy, a promise of redemption, and a call to renew our faith. We participate in a loving union with God who invites and empowers each of us to share in this work of healing our world and bringing about unity among all peoples and with all of creation. 

- Sister Patricia McKeon 

Good Friday

I was reflecting on what to write for a Good Friday blog and this image by William Blake kept coming to my mind. I have recently been reading Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart and his poem, Become Empty, also spoke to me in relation to Good Friday. I share both of these inspiring works as you, too, contemplate Good Friday and what it means for you.

Sister Ann MacDonald, CSJ

“BECOME EMPTY
So you want to find God?
Empty yourself of everything -
your worries and your hopes,
your wishes and your fears.
For when you are finally
empty, God will find you,
because God cannot tolerate
emptiness and will come
to fill you with himself.”
— Meister Eckhart

Header Image: Unsplash/Wim van 't Einde

Holy Thursday

Today Christians of many faith traditions gather to begin the solemn celebrations of Holy Week – sometimes referred to as the Triduum.  It is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many of us who take part in this extended sacred feast, have parts we like and other parts we find difficult to move through - and even that may change for us from year to year.

Of course, the liturgies of these days focus on the Scriptural texts which are both historical and theological and spiritual.  We probably all know the flow of the historical events as recounted in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  But these days are more than an historical remembering.  They have application and meaning today for each of us who try to understand how God is acting in us and in our world today. We need to understand that God’s action is still with us as we seek to respond to the woes and agonies of today.

“We need to understand that God’s action is still with us as we seek to respond to the woes and agonies of today.”

Today on Maundy Thursday many begin with a special supper, as Jesus and disciples did around the Seder supper.  I know that in my mind it is easy to slip into an “audience mentality” and watch the story unfold.  But much more is happening here.  I am being invited to see this story unfold with God’s eyes in my life and in our world today.  I am being invited to borrow God’s senses.  Therefore, this is not a forced experience, but a grace that is offered.  So God may offer us in some way, the capacity to see with God’s eyes, hear with God’s ears, and speak with God’s mouth, and love with God’s heart.

As we look around the world, and see the pain and suffering of so many, the deeper meaning is not to despair because of the pain and suffering and loss of so much, but to see it all with the eyes of love – the eyes of God.  This is a radical stance.  It is for me a grace and the invitation is to discover how God is inviting us to learn the meaning of hope.  As we remember together and ask to see this time with God’s eyes.

Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Baking tells the Easter Story

Looking for a creative culinary activity that will teach children and others about the true meaning of EASTER?    

THE EMPTY TOMB ROLLS (also known as “Resurrection Rolls”) will not only dazzle and excite little hands but will make a lasting impact, and they taste good, too! The experience of creating these little delectables will more than fulfill your expectations. 

All you will need is:

  • 1 (10 ounce) package jumbo refrigerated crescent rolls 

  • ¼ cup sugar 

  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 

  • 8 large marshmallows 

  • ¼ cup butter (melted) 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare a jumbo muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. 

  2. Separate crescent rolls into 8 triangles and set aside.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. 

  3. Dip each marshmallow into butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar and place on a triangle dough.  Pinch dough around marshmallow, sealing all edges. MAKE SURE TO SEAL WELL OR THE MARSHMALLOW WILL ESCAPE. 

  4. Dip tops of dough into the remaining butter and then into the cinnamon-sugar.  Place roll with the sugar side up into the muffin cups. 

  5. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 – 15 minutes.  Eat warm.

  6. Open to reveal the empty tomb!

  7. Read the Easter story from the Bible found in Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24 or in John 19-20. 

If you are not familiar with the Bible the same story is recounted by these four men, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. The story is virtually the same but is found in these four places in the Bible.  How the rolls represent the Easter Story:

Jesus —marshmallow
After Jesus died on the cross he was wrapped in linen— roll in butter and cinnamon
Jesus put into tomb — crescent roll dough
3rd day Jesus has risen & no longer in tomb — open cooked roll to find NO marshmallow/“empty tomb”

Christ has risen. He has risen indeed!

-Sister Maureen Meloche, CSJ

Palm Sunday: Ancient Prophecy and Personal Remembrance

The Gospel of Matthew is chosen today by the Church to begin the Holy Week events leading to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  I have been reading about the juxtaposition of personal episodes that happened to Jesus as witnessed by the apostles and are rooted in the words of the Old Testament and its prophets concerning the Messiah who would appear.

In the Palm Sunday experience, Matthew explains that Jesus, heading to Jerusalem, reached Bethphage and called for a donkey and colt in the village ahead of them. As he rode through the town, the crowds spread palm branches on the road and hailed him “Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

After Jesus’ death, the disciples remembered the amazing happening along the route and recalled the ancient Prophet saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

During the reading of Palm Sunday’s Passion narrative, Matthew includes in his Gospel several other incidents that happened the day before Jesus’ crucifixion.  Later recalling them and realizing that these events were rooted in the prophets solidified forever that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah.

Pointing to his disciples dispersing and hiding in fear after the Last Supper, Jesus spoke of a prophecy matching their behavior: “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’” No doubt due to fear, it was some time after the crucifixion that the disciples remembered the prophecy to which Jesus had referred.

After Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss and thirty pieces of silver, Matthew writes that Judas repented but hanged himself.  After conferring, the chief priests used the money to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the Prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver… and gave them for the potter’s field.”

Gospel writers Mark, Luke and John also quoted Old Testament prophecies to validate that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.  The written word of the Gospel, eyewitness accounts, the prophetic word of the Old Testament prophets and the fulfillment of the prophetic word give authenticity to Jesus as Messiah.

-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

Image: Unsplash/Brooke Lark