By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic
April 3, 2021: There is no Holy Mass on this day!
The Silent Saturday – the Church is silent, no public worship; the day is silent, nothing happens and everything seems to be in suspension; the Word is silent, there is no Mass celebrated this day; because Jesus, our Lord is silent, he is laid in the tomb; and God is silent, preparing something totally new for us! We are called to be in silence, waiting in hope! Though everything is silent, there is something that is powerful happening… in the silence of the tomb, this day, we hear the most powerful of all words: Hope!
That is the word that the Lord wishes to tell us…even these days as we get through this pandemic…hope! Hope in the Lord and praise his still, my Saviour and my God is there for me, whatever happens. There may be a thousand arrows aimed against me or there may be a whole battalion that comes against me, but nothing can assail me, for I hope in the Lord, my God. That is the kind of hope we are challenged to possess and grow in… not just in moments when we feel so close to God and specially blessed by God. But more importantly in moments of darkness and drear, in the moments of struggle and confusion, in moments of pain and burden… in moments of grief and sadness…through the experience of the tomb!
This day teaches us and invites us to understand the language of silence… not anyone’s silence, but the silence of God. The Silence of God is filled with messages, provided we are ready to pay heed and attend to what it communicates to us. These moments continuously speak to us and offer us the opportunity to look at the rest of our life’s moments with focus and within a framework. If only we are able to sit in that silence…without filling it with our words, cries, laments and proposals to God!
Jesus is in the tomb…the silence of the tomb is so piercing, so heavy and so laden. The women were worried about what was kept inside that tomb, the body of Christ; the apostles were worried about what would happen to them next; all those who followed Jesus were dumbstruck still trying to make sense of what has happened in a question of three days…after all the fanfare with which they received Jesus into the city… looked like everything came to a standstill… yes, it was still, it was silent, but not empty or hopeless… but there was a burdensome task of waiting. They had to wait on the Lord.
We need to wait too, on the Lord, for very many answers to our questions. The Lord has every bit of answer to give us and this silence can provide an opportunity to arrive at those answers. But we need; to allow the silence to speak… speak those powerful word, the word that the Lord is getting ready for us: Hope!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.
Inspirational