Holy Week 2023 - SILENT SATURDAY
April 8: In Sacred Silence…
What happened after Jesus died and before he rose? What was he going through?
This
is the call of this unique day of the year in the Church: this is the only day
in the whole of the Church when no Eucharist is Celebrated...the altar remains
stripped, the tabernacle remains empty and the Church remains silent: waiting
in patience to see what is going to happen next.
The
Lord rests in the tomb this day... everything is silent! There will be a dawn
very soon... but until then we are invited to Remain Silent, Remain Patient and
Remain Waiting.
It
is not so easy to remain silent in a moment of crisis. Multitudes of questions,
thousands of thoughts will pass by our mind breaking our silence. One could see
that - in these moments of quarantine - how many issues, how many conspiracy
theories, how may fake messages doing their rounds and how many stress creating
discussions! Only the one who has an unwavering faith in the Lord can remain
silent at these moments.
We
have grown slaves to instant results. We seem to have have lost the natural
patience of our forefathers, in the name of development and technology. Only
the one who hopes in SomeOne greater than oneself, can remain patient and see
things happen.
Compare
waiting for a public utility, may be a transport or one's turn in a crowded
office, with waiting for one's beloved! While former seems irritating, the
latter looks exciting. The difference is the love that is involved: Only the
one who loves the Lord immensely, remains waiting, for the Lord to act on his
or her behalf.
Today
is the day to remain...to remain silent, to remain patient, to remain waiting,
because the Lord is getting something beautiful ready for us! The Lord
waits...and let us wait on the Lord too!