Holy Saturday (Morning) Homily, April 11th, 2020 YR A

       This is a day for keeping our hands busy and our minds quiet.  It is a day for silence, a day for not much talking.  If we keep the silence on this Holy Saturday, then it is possible that the quietness and stillness will produce a profound awe in us that is worthy of this day.

         Holy Saturday is the day that Jesus lay dead, his body wrapped in the traditional burial sheets the ancients used to honor their dead.  His eyes are closed, unseeing; his lips also, unspeaking; his hands touch no one.  He who is the very Word of God from eternity, made flesh and come among us, now lies un-moving, un-breathing, . . . silent.

         Holy Saturday brings us the silence of God.  Because it is God’s Anointed One who lies dead, that silence speaks with words that pierce us all the way to the heart.  It is a message about who we are.

         If we are honest, our hands are not that far from the human hands that drove the nails.  Our throats are no stranger to those that shouted, “Crucify him!”  Our minds are not different from those who plotted and schemed.  Our hearts are not different from the hearts that burned with wanton ambition and chilling fear.

         The silence of Holy Saturday tells us unmistakably who we are.  And the silence of Holy Saturday also tells us who God is.  There he lies:  his sacrifice is complete.  He gave up everything he had to reach us, to redeem us.  Listen to his silence, for it sings with a searching love that will not let us go, a reaching, seeking love that honors no rejection.  

         Listen to the silence of Holy Saturday and find your peace.