As I write this at 5:00 am, I begin this time of preparation during the great “three days” of the Triduum. But let us remember, as we prepare for the great Feast tomorrow, where Christ is: inside the tomb, bodily, in the sleep of death. But much, much, much more is happening during His rest, or sleep, in death.
In one of these homily reflections, maybe yesterday, not certain, I mentioned the Son DESCENDING from heaven into our lives, when he took on our flesh and blood, uniting his divinity with the humanity of Christ. Well, I didn’t complete this story, God’s story, of this “descending.” Today, Holy Saturday, this descending goes even further, to where it can go NO FURTHER!!!!
He DESCENDS into “hell,” (perhaps not the best word to use, but the one given to us in the creed which says), “He DESCENDED into hell and on the third day, ROSE from the dead.”
As His body lies in the sleep of death, Jesus was quite active, going down into the furthest reaches of the “realm” of death, where He AWAKENS the very first persons whose choices ushered in death: Adam and Eve!!!! He goes to them first, lifting them, drawing them, from banishment into the Garden of the Kingdom where there are no “trees” to worry about. Yes, Christ, the Victor over death, is Himselfbpreparing to RISE forth from the tomb: body, soul and divinity. Much is happening as He “sleeps the sleep of death.”
On this Holy Saturday, in our preparations, let us “see” Adam and Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Ruth, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Esther, David, Joseph, OUR loved ones, ARISE from their sleep of death. Yes, this is THE Truth!!!!!!! Our destiny is to be awakened, called by name, allowing our souls to be clothed once again with OUR glorified and transformed bodies. We walk out of the tomb, so to speak, and we freely EMBRACE each, not a worry about “six feet of separation,” for the virus of death has been vanquished forever.
Have a RESTFUL Holy Saturday!
Peace,
Fr. Frank