The Catholic Calendar for Saturday, March 26, 2005
Holy Saturday

A Soliloquy for Holy Saturday:

From Good Friday afternoon until the early hours of dawn on Sunday, the mood of the apostles had to be one of near despair. To them, it was the end of everything. They had locked themselves into the upper room, where just the day before Jesus had spoken such words of love to them. Hopeless and fearful of the authorities, they were convinced that their future lay in shambles. Shamed at their own cowardice at abandoning the Master in his hour of need, they hardly dared look at one another.

And Mary---this sorrowful Mother of Jesus--sat quietly in the shadows, her heart broken and inconsolable. When did she slip out of that upper room, or perhaps, find her way to the tomb to mourn? Soon, Jesus would make His first appearance to Mary--but not yet.

And ourselves? This Holy Saturday is a day of quiet anticipation, of struggling to absorb all that happened in the last 48 hours. What a horrible crime covers the earth with His blood, a blasphemy beyond category, to assassinate the Son of God, How fortunate that Jesus from the Cross cried to the Creator, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Even as His Precious Blood flows down on the skull of Adam, and all the children of Eve, it converts from condemnation to redemption, from curse to blessing.

What response can we make as we reflect in awe? Heartfelt thanksgiving and praise. Along with all those in the Hell of the Just, including His dear foster-father, St. Joseph, we, the future children of the Promise, are released from eternal banishment, freed for heaven and Eternal Life. As we anticipate your Rising, O Jesus, the Christ, we stir in our hearts all the love we can muster:

"We adore You, O Christ,
and we praise You!
Because by Your holy cross,
You have redeemed the world!

- Msgr. Paul E. Whitmore
(smartins at twcny dot rr dot com)

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