In December I think, “You know, Christmas really is my favorite time of year.” And now, as we approach the Triduum, I’m saying, “Um…actually…you know what…I think this is my favorite time of year.”
I love Holy Week. I love Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday individually (and, of course, Easter Sunday). In the Triduum, we are not just remembering Christ’s Passion and Resurrection…in a mysterious way, we are actually living through them with Him. (Though when you remember the fact that God is outside of time, it doesn’t seem as mysterious…you can kind of think of it as us, moving along in the current of time, and Jesus, God made Man, standing on the bank and able to walk to any point of the current that He wants. When He walked the earth two thousand years ago, He walked into the current. But even when He’s on the bank, He’s still just as much here.)
(EDIT: You know, I’m not sure I explained that very well. Here’s Part 2 of my explanation: not only is Jesus outside of time, but the Crucifixion (while it was also a historical fact that happened at a particular point in history), since it was an act of love on the part of God encompassing every single human being who ever was or ever will be, is also outside of time. When I say that we live through Christ’s Passion with him in the Triduum, I’m not saying that Christ’s Passion happens again and again every year. Christ made one sacrifice, and, as He is not bound by time, He can allow us to be present at that sacrifice. (That’s also what the Eucharist is.) Hopefully that actually made more sense and didn’t just make my explanation more confusing.)
But I’m going to talk about Holy Saturday today, because I have a special fondness for Holy Saturday and I think it’s underrated.
Holy Saturday is a quiet day. A somber day. We’ve just lived through the horrendous events of Good Friday, without yet experiencing the joy and wonder of Easter Sunday. Christ sleeps in the tomb, and the whole world is silenced, hushed by the mystery of what has just happened.
The whole world is hushed…yet expectant. We know that the story isn’t over, and we are eager to come to the ending. Although we are eager, we need this time of expectancy. It’s very easy for us to fall into the mindset of rushing from event to event, and the Triduum simply cannot be experienced that way. (I mean, it can be, but it’s not at all ideal.) We need to let the events of the Triduum really soak into our hearts, and to do that, we need time.
God knows that. Jesus could have gone straight from Good Friday to Easter Sunday…could have risen from the dead the moment His Body was laid in Mary’s arms. But He didn’t. He gave us the opportunity to celebrate this time in a deeper, richer way.
Of course, I admit that I tend to focus too much on looking forward to Easter on Holy Saturday. For me, Holy Saturday can be a busy-ish day of cooking and preparing for Easter, and it’s also just hard for me to be interiorly silent sometimes. But nevertheless, there is a certain quiet and hush to Holy Saturday, a hush which tingles with excitement…an excitement which slowly turns into a passionate, overflowing joy as our candles are lit in the quiet darkness of the church at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, and the darkness of the church is slowly turned into light.
Thank you so much for sharing, Lizzie! I’m planning on doing a post on each of the days from Good Friday to Easter Sunday (the Triduum, did you call it?) and this is quite beautiful, inspiring, and makes one think. Which is always a good thing!
I loved the way you depicted the way the world is hushed, expectant, waiting, in between Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection. It’s a beautiful day, but also a sombre day, because no-one knew what was going to happen. Hopeful and despairing simultaneously.
Thank you!
Oh, that’s a lovely idea; I look forward to reading them all! (Yes, the last three days before Easter are traditionally referred to as the Triduum in Catholic circles – which, you may know (I know from your blog that you’re familiar with Latin ;)), means literally “three days.”)
Exactly…it’s beautiful, but sombre. Of course, it can be harder for us to be sombre, because we know exactly how the story ends; the disciples didn’t have that information (Jesus had told them many times that He would die and rise on the third day, of course, but it seems that they probably didn’t understand what He meant).
Indeed! That’s a lovely way to refer to it. 🙂
Exactly! It’s kind of funny, almost, how the disciples were so oblivious to what He told them, and either forgot or just couldn’t wrap their minds around what was going on. And yet we wouldn’t have been any different in the same situation, and the only reason we can see it differently is because we have the hindsight they didn’t.
Yes, precisely! The Apostles were just ordinary people, people who could be stupid and oblivious and completely miss the point at times…and that’s why we can relate to them and understand them so much. It shows us that you don’t have to be some superhuman to be Christian.
Yes exactly!
The Triduum is just so beautiful! I know what you mean about having a hard time deciding on a favorite holiday. I’ve finally come to the decision that Christmas is my favorite *holiday* but the Triduum is my favorite *liturgically.* Can we go with that?? It’s just so beautiful and rich and meaningful and grounding.
Heh, that sounds like a good solution…I may have to give up trying to settle on one and just accept that my preference will probably always go back and forth depending on which one is coming up. 😛 The Triduum is so very beautiful, isn’t it? <3
Beautiful reflection, Lizzie! The Triduum is my three favourite days of the year, and even though I do my best to live them slowly and let them soak in, they always go by far too fast!
I know exactly what you mean about Holy Saturday being a day of quiet waiting, and that’s always how it’s struck me, too. Although when I’m home, a key part of Holy Saturday is helping to decorate the church for Easter, but even that really brings home the quiet waiting, because the tabernacle is…empty. Which is super weird!
One of my favourite reflections on Holy Saturday is an ancient homily that’s included in the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday, which begins: “Something strange is happening — there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and Hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the Son of Eve.”
Don’t they go by so quickly? I’m very bad at being present in the moment, so I feel like I have trouble really letting the Triduum sink in…things to work on, things to work on.
Oh, I can see that! That’s actually quite a fitting analogy for Holy Saturday, isn’t it? Preparing for Jesus’s return, but His not being here yet. I like that 😀
YES, I love that reflection! I had heard the first couple lines before and loved them…I think this year was the first time I read the whole reading. It’s so beautiful!