Holy Saturday

I continue to find reflection this church year with a book that follows the seasons and traditions of one Benedictine monastery. The section on Easter details worship during Holy Week. I especially found the following quote on Holy Saturday helpful and meaningful.

“Holy Saturday follows, called ‘the most blessed Sabbath on which Christ sleeps,’ by the Liturgy. I am particularly fond of Holy Saturday. In a way, it is even quieter than Good Friday, since no liturgy is celebrated, but we share both in the sorrow of the Passion and burial of Jesus and in the anticipated joy of the Resurrection. An Eastern Byzantine text poignantly conveys the mystery of Holy Saturday:

'O happy tomb! You received within yourself
the Creator and the Author of life.
O strange wonder! He who dwells on high
is sealed beneath the earth with his own consent.'

The stillness, the deep silence, and the peace we experience on Holy Saturday, keeping watch by the tomb of Christ, is perhaps the best preparation for the explosive, all-powerful joy of the Resurrection. Very often in life, we are likewise led through loss and sorrow to a new phase of peace and understanding that ultimately culminates in deep joy.”
(Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery, Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette)