Living in the Saturday
Saturday of Holy Week is probably one of the most often looked over. We have the tragedy and mercy poured out on Good Friday, and we have the glory and power of Easter. But what about that day in between? What about that Saturday?
I admit, the only reason I ever cared about Holy Saturday before was because it was the day my favorite mass of the year was on - the Easter Vigil, but even that is for Easter, not for Saturday. Saturday was a day of mourning, of waiting, of uncertainty. Jesus was God, right? Then why was He able to die? He said something about 3 days, but what did that mean? This was a time of shock and sorrow, pure and simple.
God. Died.
Yup. Shock and sorrow.
But, there is another aspect that I think is important. And that is the understanding that while we have died to our old selves, we still wait for our resurrection. Our souls are made new, but we still have our earthly bodies, and, if we are honest, we will admit that we have a hard time keeping the old self in the tomb where it belongs.
We live in the Saturday. The City Harmonic has a beautiful song called Holy (Wedding Day) that has a couple beautiful lines that explain this mystery beautifully. This is my favorite: "This is the story of a bride in white waiting on her wedding day, anticipation welling up inside while the groom is crowned as king." That's where we are. We are waiting for Christ to come again or for us to join Him at the end of our earthly lives.
This is a time for us to be in shock, in horror, in sorrow - yes, sorrow - for the fact that God died for us. But it is also a joyful anticipation of the wedding day. We know what Sunday brings, so we have to live for it.
I admit, the only reason I ever cared about Holy Saturday before was because it was the day my favorite mass of the year was on - the Easter Vigil, but even that is for Easter, not for Saturday. Saturday was a day of mourning, of waiting, of uncertainty. Jesus was God, right? Then why was He able to die? He said something about 3 days, but what did that mean? This was a time of shock and sorrow, pure and simple.
God. Died.
Yup. Shock and sorrow.
But, there is another aspect that I think is important. And that is the understanding that while we have died to our old selves, we still wait for our resurrection. Our souls are made new, but we still have our earthly bodies, and, if we are honest, we will admit that we have a hard time keeping the old self in the tomb where it belongs.
We live in the Saturday. The City Harmonic has a beautiful song called Holy (Wedding Day) that has a couple beautiful lines that explain this mystery beautifully. This is my favorite: "This is the story of a bride in white waiting on her wedding day, anticipation welling up inside while the groom is crowned as king." That's where we are. We are waiting for Christ to come again or for us to join Him at the end of our earthly lives.
This is a time for us to be in shock, in horror, in sorrow - yes, sorrow - for the fact that God died for us. But it is also a joyful anticipation of the wedding day. We know what Sunday brings, so we have to live for it.
Beautiful. :-) Thanks for sharing. And I love the Remembrance song.
ReplyDelete