“Today there is great silence on earth”

Have you ever entered a church on the morning of Holy Saturday? The crosses and images are veiled, the tabernacle is empty, and the altar is completely bare of its ornaments: the lights, the cross, the flowers, the cloth. Holy Mass is not celebrated and there is no Gospel… everything is shrouded in silence and absence. “What has happened? Today there is great silence on earth, great silence and solitude. Great silence because the King sleeps: the earth was astonished and silent because God made flesh has fallen asleep and awakened those who had been sleeping for centuries. God died in the flesh and descended to shake the kingdom of the underworld. Certainly, he goes to seek the first father, like the lost sheep. He wishes to descend to visit those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. God and his Son go to free from suffering Adam and Eve, who are in prison” (Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday).

“Awake, you who sleep”

Thus Holy Saturday is the day on which, as we profess in the Creed, Christ “descended into the underworld,” that is, into the realm of the dead, into the depths of death, experiencing the abyss of our destiny of death.
Here too everything is silence. A silence torn apart only by Christ’s outstretched hand and his incredible invitation: 

“Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.
I am your God, who for your sake became your son; for your sake and for these, who originated from you, I now speak, and in my power I command those who were in prison: Come out! To those who were in darkness: Be enlightened! To those who were dead: Rise! To you I command: Awake, you who sleep! Indeed, I did not create you to remain a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead. I am the life of the dead. Rise, work of my hands! Rise, my image, made in my image! Rise, let us leave this place! For you are in me and I am in you; together we are one undivided nature.

For your sake I, your God, became your son. For your sake I, the Lord, took on the nature of a servant. For your sake, I who am above the heavens, came to earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, man, I shared human weakness, but then became free among the dead. For your sake, who left the garden of earthly paradise, I was betrayed in a garden and handed over to the Jews, and in a garden I was crucified. Look at the spittle on my face, which I received for your sake, so that I might restore you to that first breath of life. Look at the blows on my cheeks, endured to recreate your lost beauty in my image.
Look at the scourging on my back, suffered to free your shoulders from the burden of your sins. Look at my hands nailed to the wood for your sake, you who had once wickedly stretched out your hand toward the tree. I died on the cross, and the lance pierced my side, for your sake, you who fell asleep in paradise and brought Eve forth from your side. My side healed the pain in your side. My sleep will free you from the sleep of hell. My lance restrained the lance that had been turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy drove you out of the land of paradise. But I will not restore you to that garden; instead, I will place you on the heavenly throne. You were forbidden to touch the symbolic tree of life, but I, who am life, share with you what I am. I appointed cherubim to guard you as servants. Now I make the cherubim worship you almost as God, even though you are not God” (Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday).

God's wake-up call

On this Holy Saturday, the words “awake, you who sleep!” are the wake-up call that God addresses to me, to you, to every person who awaits death giving way to life, pain giving way to the joy of Easter Sunday with the announcement of the Resurrection.
God’s wake-up call summons us to awaken from the sleep of death caused by sin, from the darkness of our daily lives suffocated by a thousand occupations and worries, by suffering, discouragement, illness, superficiality, and lack of vigilance… 
By making a brief examination of conscience, we can ask ourselves: How much time do I devote to prayer? How interested am I in Sacred Scripture? How do I live the Sacraments? How long has it been since I approached the sacrament of Penance, Sunday Eucharist?
Then Holy Saturday is for all of us a powerful call to rouse ourselves, to wake up, to rise again, to stand up and go to what is essential, on a sincere journey of conversion, fleeing idle chatter and frantic activities, so that we may return to ourselves and entrust our weaknesses to God’s love. 
With joy, let us become aware that the invitation to wake up consists in grasping the outstretched hand of Christ Jesus, who speaks to me and invites me to go toward him, to remain with him: “The heavenly throne is ready, the bearers are ready and awaiting orders, the hall is prepared, the table set, the eternal dwelling decorated, the treasure chests open. In other words, the kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity” (Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday).

May this Holy Saturday also be for us the day when we can hear the cry even more strongly: “Awake, you who sleep!” and choose holiness.