Holy Saturday – Seventh Day of Creation
Everything is silent ... feels empty ... regrets? Everything is waiting ... Today is a time of reflection and unbearable silence, waiting. How unattractive. Nothing happens… Great silence enveloped the earth; great silence and emptiness on it. Great silence because the King fell asleep.
After yesterday's most painful day, you know that tomorrow there will be an explosion of Easter joy. In the midst of these two extreme experiences is a strangely mysterious Holy Saturday.
And yet something is happening! God is seemingly resting in the tomb. No, He is already working! These are not wasted hours at all. Christ descends into the Abyss into the space of the hell itself. He even goes there to confirm that there are no more places where God does not exist. Before the Resurrection (for us living) and the Ascension (for his Father), he descends first where no one has yet dared to descend from creation - to the Abyss.
In this way salvation reaches everyone. God meets every human being. Mercy covers all spheres of existence. The hope of salvation is available to ALL. There is no place in the universe that has not heard that God is with man.
The mystery of the Abyss visit happens beyond our human pattern. What do you see around you after Jesus' death? The world is happy because it is done with an uncomfortable “element”. Having buried Jesus, atheists prove to themselves that God does not exist. Religious enthusiasts are happy because they have got rid of the man who accuses them of hypocrisy in their ideals of piety. Having experienced the abandonment by the Master and the experience of their own life failure, the apostles have time to grow up. Will they benefit from this lesson in silence? Because it is in the midst of silence that we will have boldly descend into our hidden abysses: doubt, loss of faith, sense of betrayal.
Overall, there is silence. But this is an extremely busy silence!
During this exceptional silence, there is someone who is especially waiting ... the Mother. Holy Saturday is, next to Jesus' tidying up the space of the Abyss, the time of Mary's longing. She buried Him, but she did not forget ... She knows perfectly well that something is going to happen, that God will surprise her again. She is sad, but she does not despair. The saints confirm that it was with her that Jesus first met after the Resurrection. We read in the 15th Spiritual Report by St. Teresa of Jesus:
“(...) he appeared in the first moment of his Resurrection to his Holy Mother, because she was almost falling under the torrent of her martyrdom. Her soul was pierced through by the sword of sorrow, that even after seeing him risen, she could not come to herself immediately and enjoy this joy. I understood by comparison what my wound was, how different it was! And what must have been the immeasurable sorrow of the Blessed Virgin, when my sorrow seemed so great to me! The Lord added that he had stayed with his Mother for a long time, because it was necessary for him to comfort her completely”.
Returning in our reflections to the Book of Genesis, today we have the seventh day - the day of rest: “Thus were heaven and earth and all the host of its creatures completed. And when [God] had finished his work on the sixth day, he rested on the seventh day from all his labors.
Jesus, the Son of God, rests in the tomb, rests after the work of a new creation, restoration and redemption. When he opens his eyes and moves the tombstone, he will simultaneously open heaven to all and move the hope of Eternity. Nobody can stop this revolution of LOVE!
There will be a new day after the night.
After the storm, the sun will shine again.
After the toil, sleep will come.
And after death, life - which has no end!
"This is the story of the beginning after the creation of heaven and earth."
Until Tomorrow
fr. george
Novena to The Divine Mercy - Second Day
Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave Me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind.
Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven.
Eternal Father turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard - upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet