In my last post, and especially in my poem, my intention was to open my heart fully and express the anguish that yesterday’s news brought to me. Yesterday, in a real sense, was a Good Friday moment for us all. It was a time to weep, a time to mourn. In one sense, we may feel as though the Lord has been taken away (even though He remains among us) and we do not know where they have put Him.
Now that we are absorbing the news of the suspension of public Masses, where are we? We long for Easter, for a Resurrection, for the full restoration of our Eucharistic celebrations. Until then, we find ourselves in Holy Saturday mode.
Holy Saturday. The Sabbath of the Lord, in its most profound sense, when even the Lord Himself appears to be resting, even absent. We have never learned what to do with Holy Saturday. We often hold our Good Friday liturgy on Friday evening, and then celebrate the Easter Vigil the next night. We do not have a Holy Saturday Mass. With the Paschal Triduum being such a busy time in parishes, few people have the time or energy to include Holy Saturday in some way. Thus, we have not had much guidance in how to honor Holy Saturday.
But here we are. Holy Saturday has come to us. We must, so to speak, make up for all those lost Holy Saturdays now. This will not be only for a day. Only the Lord knows how long this will last. What do we do now? How do we live this time in faith, hope and love? In my last post, I said that we need to speak our pain truly before we can speak our hope truly. It is time to move toward that hope.
Let us spend a little time with the image of Holy Saturday. Jesus has died on the Cross and is now buried. By all accounts, His story – and the story of His followers – should be over. Jesus’ death, to His enemies, proved that He could not be what He claimed to be. For them, He has been exposed as a failed Messiah. However, Jesus warned His disciples that this was coming. He would be arrested, condemned, and put to death. But then, He promised, He would rise on the third day. This is Holy Saturday. The second day, as the ancients counted days. Would Jesus’ promise be fulfilled? Could the disciples wait in hope?
Looking back, we know how the story turned out. Jesus was raised from the dead. He was seen by various disciples and followers. It is interesting, and a sign of hope, for us to notice that in the Gospels of Luke and John, the Resurrection stories culminate in a meal shared with Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, two disciples, who are abandoning Jerusalem and heading for Emmaus, encounter the Risen Lord, though they do not recognize Him. They only realize who He is when He breaks bread with them. As Luke tells us, they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. Or, as we would say, in the Eucharist. In John’s Gospel, the Resurrection appearances culminate in Jesus’ appearance to several disciples by the Sea of Galilee. They catch an abundance of fish, and then Jesus feed them with bread and fish. Again, signs of the Eucharist. Afterwards, Jesus recommissions Peter.
These accounts are the basis of our hope as we live our Holy Saturday moment now. They are also our guide. They remind us that the ultimate goal of this time is to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Eucharist once again. Therefore, all that we do from now on as Catholics should have this goal in mind.
In deciding how to live out this Holy Saturday moment, this great Sabbath in our worldwide Church, we can also look to the example of Jesus Himself and how He acted on the Sabbath. He said that the Sabbath was for us, not us for the Sabbath. He taught – and showed by His actions – that the Sabbath was meant not only for rest, but for healing and restoration. The Sabbath was a time to reach out to the lost and forsaken and bring them into this same Sabbath rest and peace.
We can also keep in mind some of the advice that we are hearing from the secular media as to what to do now that we find ourselves spending much more time at home. It might be a chance, they say, for tackling projects we have wanted to do but never did. This bit of advice is helpful spiritually as well.
Putting all of this together, can we offer some steps or guidelines that may be helpful for us spiritually, to prepare for that Easter (whenever it will be) when Mass is fully restored to us? I propose the following guidelines. I pray that they will be a means of the Lord’s love and grace among us, and that they will help renew us all in faith, hope, and love. I offer them in no logical order. I pray that you will hear the Lord’s voice as you read them, not necessarily mine.
1) Remain committed to your parish or other Catholic community. In a time of great fear and trials, one of the worst trials is the sense that any of us must face them alone. We do not. We remain a part of the Church, the Body of Christ. Our parishes remain a living presence. Pray for your parish and its staff. Continue to support your parish financially. Bills do not stop when Masses stop. Ask if there is anything you can do to help your parish now in any way. If your parish or cluster has a website and offers special content at this time, check it out and make use of it. Stay connected with some other parishioners who are trusted friends, and speak about your faith with one another regularly. Seek the Sacraments as needed.
2) Foster a deep longing for the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of the Lord. At Mass, we are fed not only by the Lord’s Word, but also by this great Sacrament. Watch Mass on TV or online. Say a prayer of spiritual communion. Do so, however, with the attitude of a child who has given up sweets for Lent and is now standing outside a bakery and looking through the window at all the goodies that he or she can’t have now, but will have again. Allow yourself to feel that spiritual hunger for the Eucharist, even if it includes the pain and frustration of having to say “not yet”. The day will come again, and then we will rejoice.
3) Build up your parish community. A Holy Saturday moment is a good time to think of our parish communities and ask ourselves, “Who’s missing? Who have we forgotten? Who have we left out?” It may be someone who has fallen out of the habit of coming to Mass. It may be a family with an autistic or Down’s Syndrome child that feels unwelcome at Mass. It could be anyone who does not have the charisma or the social capital that our secular world prizes. This is a time to reach out to them and begin to help them, gently and slowly, to discover that they, too, are valued members of the Body of Christ. If you know of someone who is too fearful to venture out, help that person in whatever way you can.
4) Take a personal spiritual inventory. This is something we often do during Lent anyway, but it is good to reinforce this. How faithful have each of us been to the Lord and the Church? What have we done well? Where does sin still have power over us? Are there pains or traumas from our past that still burden us and enslave us? Might it be time to avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Lord’s cleansing and liberating mercy?
5) Recommit yourselves to spiritual reading. Spiritual reading is something many people want to do, but it is easily put to the side as other concerns arise in our daily lives. If we are to be fed in faith, our hearts need this food as well. Resources like Magnificat and Give Us This Day can help get us started with daily reflections and prayers. We can read the Mass readings for the day, each day, so that God’s Word can feed us. We can finally read that spiritual book we’ve been wanting to read. Ask your pastor or another committed Catholic for recommendations for what to read.
6) Find a patron saint. If you do not already have a patron saint, start finding out some stories about various saints. Look for saints who may have lived lives similar to yours in some way, or who are saints that people often seek intercession from for the challenges you are facing now. This, too, helps you feel connected to the whole Church, and much less alone and isolated.
7) Do not be afraid. Jesus often said this to His disciples. This was one of the great themes of the papacy of St. John Paul II. This does not mean that we can never feel fear or anxiety. It means that we never let fear or anxiety have the last word. Fear and panic distort our perceptions of reality. They can make us do things that only make our predicament even worse. Find ways that help you reduce your fears when you feel them. Do a reality check with someone who knows you well. As always, entrust your fears to the Lord and He will support you.
I have offered some guidelines that, I pray, will be helpful to you. They may help you think of other ways that I have not mentioned here. So much the better! Share these ways with one another. Make this time of Holy Saturday a time of true rest in the Biblical sense – a time of renewal, healing, and grace for all of us who await the day when we will again share the Eucharist together as the full Body of Christ!