A great silence descends on the Church. No sacraments, unless in cases of necessity eg. in danger of death, are to be celebrated on Holy Saturday. How often do we get inquiries about getting married on the Saturday before Easter Sunday? No, the Church rests, waits and anticipates as the disciples did all those centuries ago. Yet, for them, there was no hope only bitterness and recriminations. Judas betrayed the Lord and so had Peter! What would they do with their lives now - those who had left everything to follow Jesus? Sometimes our lives, too, are stripped bare. We descend into the tomb of loneliness, failure and futility. We have been betrayed by others or even inflicted the damage on ourselves through our own stupidity, sinfulness or selfishness. Abandoned by friends and relatives all we have is silence. The great spiritual writers tell us that in the darkness that God is closer to us than ever. We should never doubt that God is there for us even when we have had cause to cry out in anguish: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mtt 27: 46)
After all, St Paul reassures us: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. " (Rom 8: 37-39)
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