Holy Saturday

Christ Lag in Todesbanden.

I have Christ lag In Todesbanden playing in my head. I don’t usually enjoy singing Bach (I know. I’m a troglodyte.), but that piece just slays me. Every. Time. This is a day of desolation. God is gone. Christ is in the tomb. It is also the day of exultation as Christ is harrowing Hell, emptying the dark and shadowy places where we imprison ourselves. God will save us even from ourselves.

Today’s Franciscan Nugget: “Day Thirty - The Three Notes - The humility, love and joy which mark the lives of Tertiaries are all God given graces. They can never be obtained by human effort. They are gifts of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of Christ is to work miracles through people who are willing to be emptied of self and to surrender to him. We then become channels of grace through whom his mighty work is done.”

We live in the tension between God’s promised presence and God’s apparent absence. Why do horrible things happen? Why are we subject to the vicissitudes of life? The economic forces, the people and institutions that seem to control us are a baffling and even infuriating reality. Some pray for peace while others go to war. Others seek to serve the poor while other horde billions. God does not intervene when we pray God might. Rather, God appears to have given us just enough rope to hang ourselves. And we’re happy to do so.

This is why I pray. I pray for the clarity of thought and vision to not fall into such a trap. I pray that I might have Christ’s faith and courage to live in such a way that the poor are blessed and the rich “sent empty away.” I pray for those gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am slowly learning not to pray for a good job. I am slowly learning not to pray for myself at all except to do God’s will…to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.

I confess it is very difficult. I confess that I am terrible at it. I confess that I often live like every day is Holy Saturday. And I am grateful that God has the will and the power to save me from myself.

Tonight, we will hold Vigil knowing the promise of Resurrection is to come. Knowing the end of the story makes everything else possible.

Y’all be excellent to each other.