Something strange is happening today.
Holy Saturday is one of the quietest days of the year, this time between Jesus’ death and his resurrection. It’s a day when, as Pope Benedict said, “God remains hidden.” It’s a day when we put ourselves into the proverbial shoes of the apostles who must have felt the fear, emptiness, loneliness, guilt, and pain after Jesus’ death. It’s a day of silent stillness and reflection.
I think that one of the most beautiful explanations I’ve found about the meaning for the silence of this day comes from the opening paragraph of an ancient homily from 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 with fear. (Listen to the entire homily here.)
We have all felt the paralyzing sense of abandonment when someone close to us has died. But even in the extreme darkness of those moments, we sense the joy that follows because Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us out of our tombs. And that is the mystery of Holy Saturday – through the hallowing darkness of death, we are led to the light of the Resurrection.
Something strange is happening. Embrace it! Savor the silence, and let it fill us with the light of new hope and a new beginning to a life with Christ that has no end.
From Good Friday to Easter Sunday, waiting is hard. Read why here.
