Ordinary Day?

Today, Holy Saturday, we remain in isolation. We recall Jesus laid to rest in the Tomb. The Holy Sepulchre is closed today, as it was when a great stone was rolled across its entrance to seal the Tomb.

passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad inferos

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell;

A dawn of gold brightly beaming. Clouds rapidly slid their way in; a grey canvas framed the sky. Threads of blue tempt one to hope. The sun returns; it never left. Clouds merely obscured it. Patience. The prison cannot contain the Son.

The Virus has enabled a solemn and uneasy quiet for this day, as it did yesterday, Good Friday. Mind you, grocery stores were relatively busy; queues were slow. Conversations - at the required two metres - were quite enjoyable; not trite.

Today is Holy Saturday.

624 "By the grace of God" Jesus tasted death "for every one". In his plan of salvation, God ordained that his Son should not only "die for our sins" but should also "taste death", experience the condition of death, the separation of his soul from his body, between the time he expired on the cross and the time he was raised from the dead. The state of the dead Christ is the mystery of the tomb and the descent into hell. It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb, reveals God's great sabbath rest after the fulfillment of man's salvation, which brings peace to the whole universe.

636 By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.

Today is Holy Saturday.

It is the long history of a world, and God alone can bear the load of it. Hopes blighted, vows broken, lights quenched, warnings scorned, opportunities lost; the innocent betrayed, the young hardened, the penitent relapsing, the just overcome, the aged failing; the sophistry of misbelief, the wilfulness of passion, the obduracy of pride, the tyranny of habit, the canker of remorse, the wasting fever of care, the anguish of shame, the pining of disappointment, the sickness of despair; such cruel, such pitiable spectacles, such heartrending, revolting, detestable, maddening scenes; nay, the haggard faces, the convulsed lips, the flushed cheek, the dark brow of the willing slaves of evil, they are all before Him now; they are upon Him and in Him.

- Saint John Henry Newman, excerpt from Discourse 16.

Newman also gave us the following hymn:

173. For the Dead

HELP, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,

       The souls to Thee so dear,

In prison for the debt unpaid

       Of sins committed here.

Those holy souls, they suffer on,

       Resign'd in heart and will,

Until Thy high behest is done,

       And justice has its fill.

For daily falls, for pardon'd crime,

       They joy to undergo

The shadow of Thy cross sublime,

       The remnant of Thy woe.

Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,

       The souls to Thee so dear,

In prison for the debt unpaid

       Of sins committed here.

Oh, by their patience of delay,

       Their hope amid their pain,

Their sacred zeal to burn away

       Disfigurement and stain;

Oh, by their fire of love, not less

       In keenness than the flame,

Oh, by their very helplessness,

       Oh, by Thy own great Name,

Good Jesu, help! sweet Jesu, aid

       The souls to Thee most dear,

In prison for the debt unpaid

       Of sins committed here.

The Oratory

1857

It is Holy Saturday.

2 Timothy 2:11

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.