Our Soul Waits

Our Soul Waits

March 30, 2013

Holy Saturday – Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

Our soul waits for the LORD, he is our help and shield.  For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust.  Psalm 33:20-21

Piety

Jesus is silent on Saturday.  The women have anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb.  The cadaver of Christ is as mute as the stone which guards it.  He spoke much on Friday. He will liberate the slaves of death on Sunday.  But on Saturday, Jesus is silent.

So is God.  He made himself heard on Friday.  He tore the curtains of the temple, opened the graves of the dead, rocked the earth, blocked the sun of the sky, and sacrificed the Son of Heaven.  Earth heard much of God on Friday.

Nothing on Saturday.  Jesus is silent.  God is silent.  Saturday is silent.

(From The Silence of Saturday by Max Lucado)

Study

As Jesus kneels to pray in the Garden on Holy Thursday, he asks his followers to watch and wait.  Events take over.  Arrested.  Convicted.  Crucified.  Anointed.  Buried.

Then, the Christian waiting begins anew (again).  Vigil.  Watch.  Wait.  All the real action of the Triduum takes place on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.  But Holy Saturday is probably the most representative day of the Easter weekend.

Waiting is what we Christians seem to do the most.  After Adam and Eve were expelled from the "God-in," we were promised a savior.  The waiting began.   In the Vigil Mass of Holy Saturday, we get to meditate in the darkness that began on Good Friday over the readings that trace salvation history.  Readings marked with waiting.

From Genesis to Exodus.  Our soul waits. We feel like God has forgotten us in darkness.  From Isaiah to Baruch.  Our soul waits. We feel like God has forgotten us.  From Ezekiel to Romans.  Our soul waits in darkness.  We feel like God has forgotten us.  But then, we get the gift of the light!

Just like Father does not forget Jesus in the tomb, he does not forget us no matter where we wander, no matter how we forget Him. He revels in the light and music of the proclamation that His Son will conquer all as He gives us the light of Easter morning.

Action

While Easter is about all that happens, Holy Saturday is about all that has happened and all that will happen.  Wait in peace.  Don't forget what tomorrow will bring.