Reflections

AWAITING: A Reflection on Holy Saturday

Today, across the world, we encounter a profound stillness. Symbolically, on Holy Saturday, churches, chapels, and tabernacles are empty - sanctuary lamps extinguished, and altars are stripped bare. This bareness mirrors the tomb itself and draws us into the mystery of Holy Saturday.

Holy Saturday, often overshadowed by the solemnity of Good Friday and the jubilance of Easter Sunday, calls us to pause, to wait, and to reflect. Today occupies a unique space between two defining moments of the Christian faith.

What insights does this day offer us? Might this day of invitational waiting speak to us of the quiet, hidden processes that precede transformation. Can we, like the disciples of old, sit with our doubts and hesitations, acknowledging that the path to new life is often paved with darkness, difficulty, and deferred answers? Holy Saturday beckons us to acknowledge that inner change often comes not with instant clarity, but in the spaces in between, where our belief is stretched and refined.

“Transformation is not a future event. It is a present activity.”
— Jillian Michaels

Holy Saturday’s spiritual richness lies in its invitation to trust even when we cannot see the way forward. Our hope has the capacity to sustain and reassure us that God’s love holds us through all the seasons of life.

Let us pause to embrace this sacred, solemn interlude, and allow its stillness to deepen our awareness of the God of Goodness, who is always birthing new life.

-Sister Nancy Wales, csj

“The slow work of God is so much greater than the instantaneous. We can’t rush things into existence.”

Image: Alicia Quan/Unsplash

Holy Thursday - The Gift of Jesus at the Last Supper

Forever United :  The Gift of Jesus at the Last Supper

When we choose a goodbye gift for those we love, it is sometimes a photo, or maybe a memento of some event we shared, and it is not only to remind our friends of our past, but to say that the present and future also always hold our love. 

What is so moving is the gift Jesus chose for us, a gift that would unite us to him forever. “This is my body, This is my blood”.  It is not only the gift of his body, but of his blood.  In the Torah no Jewish person is permitted to consume blood ‘because the life is in the blood”. (Lev. 17:11-14) Everyone knew that loss of blood in any creature results in death, and since it is God who gives life to all things, blood is not to be consumed.   Even today, that taboo is observed in the way the animal is dispatched and in the recipes for serving meat, which must not allow for any blood, for life is in the blood.

In that Last supper, Jesus’ gift meant a sacred breeching of that Law.  And it would have been the very first time the apostles partook of what they were to understand was the Lord’s blood, his very life joined to their own ‘for the life is in the blood.”   This is what Jesus thought to give us, his goodbye gift, that unites us to him and to each other in his love, and united to him in this way , we bring his life and love to our world,  until  we all meet him face to face in that joyous reunion.

--Sister Wendy Cotter  CSJ

Images: Rey Proenza/Unsplash

Beyond the Pages

Children’s books have a unique way of embedding timeless wisdom within their pages. We often view these books as simple or purely entertaining, but they hold much more beneath the surface. Their stories impart life lessons that resonate long after we have closed the book or grown older. Whether we are learning about kindness from Winnie the Pooh, the unconditional love of being accepted as we are from Corduroy, courage from The Wizard of Oz, or the power of self-belief from The Velveteen Rabbit. These stories have the power to carry messages that transcend time.

““There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.” ”
— Mary Ellen Chase

Do you have a favourite storybook you reread? Roald Dahl captures this sentiment perfectly in Matilda, writing, “Some books are so good, you want to go on reading them for the rest of your life.” My awareness of the lasting impact of certain children’s books was brought home to me during a weekly reflection gathering on zoom.

““Children’s books are not just books. They are dreams, they are wishes, they are lives, they are belief , they are impossible things. And that is what makes them so powerful.” ”
— Kathi Appelt

These childhood tales teach us about empathy, resilience, friendship, and the core values that shape us into who we are as adults. Many of us can still recall the wisdom shared by the fox in The Little Prince: “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Have I sparked a memory of a children’s book or a shared memorable reading experience with someone from your childhood? Do you recall a book you enjoyed sharing with your child, a relative, or a student? What made the book or experience so memorable?

-Sister Nancy Wales, csj

Image: Robyn Budlender | Annie Spratt/Unsplash

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Palm Sunday Memories

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I have wonderful memories of Palm Sundays past. My friend and I for many years went to visit her Dad on Palm Sunday weekend in a rural village in eastern Ontario. The village was small; the parish smaller but the spirit was alive and well. I could see Jesus being very comfortable here riding through town on his wee donkey, a sign of peace rather than dominance in His day.

Sadly, short days later his celebration of welcome turned to one of scorn, the suffering servant was about to be revealed. (Isaiah 50:4-7) He accepted this treatment with faith in His loving Father. With humility, putting others before Himself, (Phil 2:6-11) Jesus submitted to the torture of the cross. Luke’s passion narrative (Luke 22: 14-23, 56) reminds us of Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial and repentance, the women’s faithfulness  and centurion’s acknowledgement that Jesus was “this was a great & good Man”.                  

As we move into this most Holy of weeks, let us remind ourselves, daily, of our own faithfulness, our own weaknesses and our belief that Jesus was and is truly our God who loves us especially in our admitted weakness. May you have a blessed Holy Week my friends.

-Maureen Condon, CSJ Associate

Images from Unsplash: Brooke Lark/Alessandro Bellone