Holy Saturday Resources

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled." - from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday (read the full excerpt here)

Hey guys! (I am, in fact, alive, I've just been super quiet...and I'm choosing the quietest day of the Liturgical Year to pipe up, apparently.)

Anywho. Happy Holy Week. Happy Holy Saturday. I hope your Holy Thursday was blessed and your Good Friday filled with an awareness of Christ's overwhelming love for you. And I hope your Easter morning breaks in with all the peace and splendor and joy proper to that day of all days.

I wanted to share some things that I love that are appropriate for the day. Two, to be precise. Unless you count the picture of Jesus delivering the souls from the jaws of death, which I find rather delightful. 

 

THING #1:
THE SHROUD OF TURIN

Here's a talk which I have listened to twice now, which I find quite fascinating. The Church has no stance on whether the Shroud of Turin is actually the burial cloth of Christ, but she's said we're free to venerate it as a way of better understanding Christ's passion, since even if it isn't Christ's actual shroud it's remarkably illustrative of what He went through on Good Friday. Devotional matters aside, it's cool to see so many disciplines (science, history, art) converging to discuss one topic. And devotionally, it's almost like watching The Passion of the Christ but without actually watching The Passion of the Christ. 

Today seems like an appropriate day to think about Christ's burial cloth since it's the day He spent wrapped up in his burial cloth, you know?

THING #2:
A POEM

My cousin sent me this poem semi-recently and I was just like, wow. This is amazing. So here you go. (I got it from this blog but I think it's in the public domain, and I gladly join the fellowship of Catholic bloggers spreading it around, because it's too lovely to be just an obscure internet thing. Share it with your friends.)

"Limbo," by Sr. Mary Ada

The ancient greyness shifted
Suddenly and thinned
Like mist upon the moors
Before the wind.

An old, old prophet lifted
A shining face and said:
"He will be coming soon.
The Son of God is dead;
He died this afternoon."

A murmurous excitement stirred
All souls.

They wondered if they dreamed--
Save one old man who seemed 
Not even to have heard.
And Moses, standing,
Hushed them all to ask
If any had a welcome song prepared.
If not, would David take the task?
And if they cared
Could not the three young children sing
The Benedicite, the canticle of praise
They made when God kept them from perishing
In the fiery blaze?

A breath of spring surprised them,
Stilling Moses' words.
No one could speak, remembering
The first fresh flowers,
The little singing birds.
Still others thought of fields new ploughed
Or apple trees

All blossom-boughed.
Or some, the way a dried bed fills
With water
Laughing down green hills. 

The fisherfolk dreamed of the foam
On bright blue seas,
The one old man who had not stirred

Remembered home.

And there He was 
Splendid as the morning sun and fair
As only God is fair.
And they, confused with joy, 
Knelt to adore
Seeing that he wore
Five crimson stars
He never had before.

No canticle at all was sung
None toned a psalm, or raised a greeting song.
A silent man along
Of all that throng found tongue--
Not any other.
Close to His heart 
When the embrace was done,
Old Joseph said, "How is Your Mother,
How is Your Mother, Son?"

And that is all. I retreat now into the world of last-minute Easter-egg-hunt-supply shopping (because little sisters must be allowed to have a childhood, too, you know).

God bless you all,
Megan