A Roman Catholic friend of mine once called today ‘quiet Saturday’. I had asked her to do something that day and she refused. She said it was for her a ‘day of contemplation’. In the various Christian traditions this day goes by several names: Holy Saturday, Great Saturday, Easter Eve, and Silent or quiet Saturday. I guess some folks can be quiet but not silent. What a blessing that would be if some of the folks I know would be silent, but I digress. There are not many liturgical practices associated with this day. It is meant for rest and reflection because on this day Jesus “rested” in the tomb. Often this day is used to prepare food for the great Easter feast. Some churches celebrate the Easter Vigil which begins after sundown on Saturday night.
I remember a devotion by a Pastor in which he described the Saturday before Easter as a metaphor for life. Though we like to say that we live on the victory side of Easter, it is also true that we live somewhere between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The crucifixion is behind us, but death is still with us and the final victory lies somewhere in the future. Every day we remember that “the final enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). Death was defeated by Jesus, but it has not yet been destroyed. Like those Japanese soldiers they found on various Pacific islands 10 years after WWII was over, they refused to surrender because they believed they were still at was and that they could still win death continues it’s own death struggle.
Anyway if I am to be busy ‘contemplating things’ today I am going to contemplate this weirdness. These two cats fight all the time. But put a picture of one on the computer and the other one finds it strangely attractive. I have always marveled at how it is that someone gets their face on the television and they are somehow attractive. Ok, I am going to go and be quiet now.
