Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Holy Saturday - the hidden silent power of God in our salvation

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Holy Saturday - the hidden silent power of God in our salvation

In the Apostles Creed we profess “he descended into hell” … this is the mysterious silent action that occurs on Holy Saturday.

One thing I never realised before is that the Church teaches that although Jesus died, his body was still united to His Divinity - even though His soul had descended into Sheol, the place of the dead, those righteous of the Old Testament waiting for Him to free them and allow them into heaven. This is known traditionally as the “harrowing of hell”.

Before the crucifixion there was Sheol, the place of the dead, where all the dead went - the good and the bad. No one could enter heaven because it was closed, and only Jesus through His Paschal Mystery now has the keys of life and death (Revelation 1:18), and so he was able to bring the Gospel to those righteous ones who have been waiting in the “Bosom of Abraham” for Him to save them since the beginning of time. In Orthodox icons this is usually depicted as Jesus stretching out his hands to Adam and Eve to bring them to heaven - the Last Adam giving life to the First Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45).

So this awkward liturgical time of Holy Saturday that is characterised by silence, is not just an “empty” moment or a transition period. It is an essential part of what happened during the Triduum and the Paschal Mystery. Even in His death, Jesus was still at “work” while His lifeless body lay in the tomb, but His soul was saving those spirits who had been in prison (1 Peter 3:19) to bring them the liberating power of the Gospel, of Himself - the Love of God made flesh.

Because of the Hypostatic Union - the humanity and Divinity (2 natures) united in Jesus Christ (1 person), that means that even though His soul separated from the body at death, but His Divinity was still united to His body and soul, because He is an indivisible whole person. Fully human and fully divine. So even the action of His dead body laying in the tomb, was sacred and redemptive. It had meaning and salvific power. But we cannot understand it comprehend this without the life giving power of the Resurrection.

May this silent day of rest and quiet on Holy Saturday, be a moment for you too to “rest” from the drama of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. A moment of contemplation and resting in God, in the knowledge that even when we do not know it, but Jesus is always doing the “work of the Father” (John 5:17) in hidden silence - but with more power than we could ever believe!

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.