Holy Saturday

“Christ strode through the gate of our final loneliness; in his Passion he went down into the abyss of our abandonment. Where no voice can reach us any longer, there he is. Hell is thereby overcome, or, to be more accurate, death, which was previously hell, is hell no longer. Neither is the same any longer because there is life in the midst of death, because love dwells in it.”  ~ Pope Benedict XVI 

Jesus’ death was the example of perfect love. He died for me, to free me from the grip of death and sin so that I may one day live with him in his heavenly kingdom. He did this for each and every one of us. He never once looked with hate upon those who scorned him, those who beat him, those who betrayed him and turned their back on him. He endured each strike to his body in silence. He was obedient to the end out of love for his Father and out of love for each of us.

This morning when I woke up I felt this sadness and as I reflected on it I realized it was because I miss my mom. This sadness began yesterday evening after the Good Friday service. My mom loved Easter and I realized how much I miss her. And during my walk this morning as I prayed and gave thanks for all my blessings, I thought of our Mother, Mary. How devastated she must have felt waking up this morning and realizing that it wasn’t just a nightmare that she experienced but something even more devastating. The brutal death of her son was a reality. It took me back to July 16^th, 1975 when my brother Mitchell was killed in a car accident. When my parents came home from identifying his body, their profound grief was visible. I was only 11 years old and didn’t realize the true impact this had on my parents. This was my first experience with the death of someone that I loved. Mitchell and Mark were identical twins, they had just graduated from high school and when Mitchell died, a part of Mark died too. I am sure Mary’s arms ached to hold her son again just as my mom’s arms ached to hold her son one last time, to tell him how much she loved him. She would have traded her life for his in a heartbeat.

Twenty-two years ago tomorrow I gave birth to my son, Matthew. He was born on Palm Sunday which I thought was pretty wonderful but to be celebrating his birthday this year on Easter Sunday makes it even more joyous. We will be celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior as well as the birthday of my son. Today has been a day to give thanks for all my blessings. I give thanks for the gift of faith that was instilled in me by my parents who saw the importance of getting all nine of us children to Mass every Sunday and for the sacrifices they made so that we could attend Catholic schools. I give thanks for my home which we are able to keep even with the loss of half of our income; a home that is filled with so much love. Thank you Lord for the gift of health for each of my family members; for a vocation where I am called to care for your little ones, and to walk with their families as they deal with their child’s diagnosis of cancer. My blessings are too numerous to mention here but I am glad for the opportunity to reflect on them this Holy Saturday. In a few hours I will be attending the Easter Vigil Mass to support my candidate as she is welcomed into the Church. I give thanks for the amazing RCIA program at St. Ann Parish where I have learned about and grown stronger in my faith along with each of the Catechumens and candidates during this process.

As our Lord lies in his tomb this day, may we spend some time reflecting on his gift of self and for putting an end to death so that we may reign with him some day in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.