Imagine Peter and the other disciples the day after the crucifixion. Defeated, crushed, confused and frightened to the extreme. Their spirit would be running very much on empty. I wonder what it must have been like for them. Did they still harbor any hope? Did hope actually exist then? If there is no God, what is hope based on?

I try to spend my Holy Saturdays in its proper disposition. But unlike Peter, I have the benefit of hindsight. So I go about, more comfortable than I should, doing the things normally scheduled for a Saturday. But hindsight does lead into complacency.

Complacency in faith simply means I am not paying attention to the Risen Christ in my life. The gospel passage of the journey to Emmaus tell us that he is risen and present in every step of our worldly journey. But complacency allow my worldly-self to dominate my spiritual-self. When it happens, the significance of the emptiness of Holy Saturday is hardly awakened in me.

Along the way we will definitely encounter issues. This is the nature of our worldly journey. Complacency in faith point us toward worldly solutions. But soon enough by this same nature happens an event that will drain our spirit. It weighs down on me like a heavy, unmovable stone. I tried everything of this world but none worked. I begin to feel like the disciples. Who will roll away my stone for me?

Major events in life have entombed me leaving me low and desperately empty. Everyone has left leaving two of us; my worldly-self and my spiritual self. My worldly-self is defeated, crushed. In that emptiness, hope spoke to my spiritual-self. There is a benefit of hindsight here; I remember that my Savior lives. Two selves united, we wait for the risen one to roll away the stone.

Always major events become milestones on our journey of faith. Our two-selves walk our worldly journey like the two disciples walked their way to Emmaus. In the emptiness of a major event, stripped of every worldly possibility, my two-selves miraculously heard and saw someone out of the nothingness of worldly life. In conversations with him, I begin to understand that the Risen Christ has been faithfully present in my worldly life.

Our worldly-self often demand proof, doubting in things unseen and more so when gratification is not almost immediate. The resurrection has showed us how to deal with our life when it descends into many ‘Holy Saturdays’; we keep still and wait patiently. He is there. He is never seen but is visible in the effects that he has on our worldly life.

Unexplained ‘coincidences’ that happened out of nothing and were so timely and altered the path of our worldly life are often not seen. Most times they are the smaller details in our personal life. On our journey, our two selves need to talk and listen to the invisible one who can explain about the many events in our worldly life; the many ‘coincidences’. Only then can we become like the disciple Jesus loved, rushing into our inner tombs to understand that the Risen One is always there in the emptiness. “He saw and he believed”.

The reason in the emptiness is to see the Risen Christ.

 

 

Easter Sunday