Holy Saturday

Was just reading some thoughts of Henri Nouwen's this morning...which is never a good idea if one wants to remain the same. :)

He reminds me to be quiet today...to rest...to lay silent and still. why? Because today is the day in which God's voice was silent...the living Word lying cold and broken in a tomb.

I'm struck by how little of this season's rhythm i've grown to live in. The whole world knows it's Easter...but few of us absorb the meaning of these days. The season of Christ's passion is easily engaged on friday (in corporate 'celebrations' of his sacrifice) and on sunday (when our worship and liturgy announce his resurrection). But saturday...well...it's just saturday, isn't it?

Holy Saturday is a day of passion...but a quiet, subdued, broken pathos. Jesus' family, friends and followers wept...their hearts crushed by watching jesus suffer and die. Their dreams were shattered...all hope was dead. And everyone else likely went on with life as usual. Much like i have on this day...overlooking the fact that...

God the Father was still...His heart broken...His lips sealed. All of heaven stood in somber silence...raptly looking for any sign that the story wasn't over.

And while we know that with tomorrow's dawn comes the reminder of hope reborn...today's passion is silent, internal, and dark...in remembrance of Jesus' body held by the tomb's cold efficacy.

In waiting, looking, and weeping today, we engage the darkness in our hearts...the darkness that needs the piercing light of Easter morning.