FROM THE HOPELESSNESS AND SILENCE OF HOLY SATURDAY TO THE HOPE AND JOY OF EASTER.

 EASTER VIGIL AT SUMEDHA CENTRE

The Sumedhans Celebrated Easter celebrated Easter Vigil by themselves at the Centre on Saturday night. They had celebrated the Way of the Cross and the Veneration of the Holy Cross the previous day - Good Friday..

On that fateful Good Friday the story had apparently ended. Whatever hopes Jesus had evoked were shattered. Remember the words of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “We had hoped…..” Now there is only a great silence, the silence of the tomb, a silence that would last all through Saturday.

Holy Saturday is the in-between time – between something old dying and something new emerging. Holy Saturday is the time between the seed falling to the ground and dying and then germinating new life. Holy Saturday is like a dead end, a time when nothing seems to be happening, when one sees no light at the end of the tunnel. 

Good Friday looks like the end of the story. But not really. The story will continue. Light will appear at the end of the tunnel. Death will be conquered. The silence and gloom of Holy Saturday will be shattered in a blaze of glory. Out of darkness a riot of colours will break forth!

This is the great message of Easter. Jesus was killed for dying the Powers Be. But His Father raised him from the dead -- and the story would continue - through so many women and men  of good will, struggling to build the Kingdom of God - where all can live in joy and peace as children of same God, challenging and fighting the Powers Be that seeks to oppress, to fragment and persecute...

When have we felt life to be a long Holy Saturday, when we felt like we have reached a dead end – with no way forward, no light at the end of the tunnel? …. And then surprised – at the happy turn of events? As a popular song says, “there is sunshine after the rain, there is laughter after the pain.”  

For the times we fail to trust in the power of your resurrection, Lord have mercy on us. Heal us of our disappointments and our hopelessness. Fill us with hope and optimism, t help us believe that pain and sorrow do not last forever, that healing is possible, that better times lie ahead....Make us instruments of hope to the hopeless and love to the forlorn. Amen

HAPPY EASTER! BLESSINGS, PEACE AND NEW LIFE TO ALL!