Holy Saturday Reflection

Father Ernie De Ciccio

Transcript

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The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents, Let Us Reflect Together. Forty Days of Lent Retreat from the Cross to Hope. Day 40, Holy Saturday Reflections with Father Ernie DiCiccio. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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That beautiful passage we just heard is one of the famous Beatitudes from chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. In our reflections, we're going to talk about some individuals who were there when Jesus suffered and died. People who believed in him. People who knew that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. People who experienced the tragedy, the injustice of his crucifixion and death. People who would cry at seeing him dead on a cross. These days we're not going to just talk about history, what happened in the past. But let's walk with these individuals who mourned the death of Christ, trusting that like them, we will find comfort and consolation in Christ our Savior.

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John, the beloved disciple, Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother and the disciple whom he loved. Then he said to the disciple, Here is your mother.

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Again, our theme is Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Many people mourned the death of Jesus. Even now, as we journey through the scriptures and recall what happened two thousand years ago, we should feel that sense of loss. What Jesus went through. The pain, the agony, the death. Some people were closer to it than we are now. If you look at images of the crucifixion, you don't see a big crowd at the foot of the cross, eh? Mary's there, Mary Magdalene, John, John the beloved disciple. Where were the others? Well, Judas, of course, had already betrayed Jesus, hanged himself. The other ten ran. Even Peter, the strong fisherman, who denied Jesus three times and cried about it. He wasn't there. Only John. We're told somewhere in the Gospel that John would rest his head on Jesus' breast almost when they would recline to supper. John was close to Jesus. Was he there at the foot of the cross, like we see him in art, just praying beautifully? Chances are he was crying. Because he had just lost his best friend, his Lord, his teacher, his master. It's okay to cry. There's that silly line years ago: real men don't cry. Wrong. I cry all the time. And sometimes when I'm in the mood to cry, I'll put on a sad movie just to get the uh the tears going. John was in pain because he had lost Jesus. And even though he had incredible faith, later he would write his gospel and the book of Revelation. Didn't make him immune to sadness. He was in mourning. But a beautiful thing happened when Jesus is speaking his seven last words. He gave Mary, his mother, to John. He gave John, his beloved disciple, to his mother Mary. Even without Jesus there. The family continues. Woman, this is your son. Son, this is your mother. What gets us through the darkness? What gets us through the mourning? The times of pain and sadness? Being in relationship with each other. Maybe we're tempted to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide where nobody can see us, where nobody can hurt us. In these times of darkness and pain, we need to listen to the voice of Jesus saying, This is your mother, this is your son. John got it. He needed to be in relationship with the mother of Christ, who was given as mother to the whole church. And yes, he needed to be in relation with all his brothers and sisters, who eventually would stop running away. So hopefully we can be like John, faithful to Jesus to the end, even when it's so difficult, and remembering that we don't go through it alone, but we have the love and support of family and friends.

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Now when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was God's son.

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We continue our reflection on Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And we're focusing on different individuals who were there when Jesus died on the cross. We already spoke about the beloved disciple. One person who we don't really know by name, although tradition says his name was Longinus. It's not in the gospel. It's the Roman centurion. Being a Roman centurion, he would not have been a Jew. He was not a disciple of the Lord. He was a pagan, for lack of a better word. But he said those powerful words when Jesus died on the cross. Truly, this was God's Son. Truly, this was the Son of God. And the words that he spoke came from his heart because he had a bit of a conversion experience there, eh? He did. Imagine having a moment of conversion when you're seeing somebody suffer and die. But sometimes that's what it takes for people to get to faith. A tragedy, a crisis, an injustice. How many people do you know who've come to faith at times like that? I'm reminded of a woman who had lost her husband suddenly, and they were married for a long time, probably close to 50 years, but she had not practiced her Catholic faith for most of those 50 years. And when she lost her partner in life, she didn't know where to turn. She lived very close to the church. And out of the blue, she showed up for a Sunday evening mass and simply asked the usher, Can I talk to somebody? Because she was hurting. She was in mourning. She was in tears. And the usher told her, go and talk to the priest. And after all those years away from the church, away from God, really, this woman started going to Mass, came back to the sacraments, joined the choir, traveled on pilgrimage. Yeah, it took the sudden death of her beloved husband to bring her back to faith. And that's how some people come back in moments of crisis. They realize that something is missing. Let's not wait for crises to happen in our life. Who knows how many experiences this centurion had experienced? He must have had some power. Centurion would command at least a hundred soldiers. But it's not life of privilege that's necessarily going to bring us to faith. It's seeing things happening around us. This centurion saw this innocent man nailed to a cross. Who knows how many crucifixions he had carried out. And many of them would have been criminals. But he had heard about this Jesus, a prophet, a teacher, a miracle worker, who had done nothing wrong to anybody, being cruelly nailed to a cross. He saw this. And all of a sudden he realized that there is a God, and this was his only begotten son.

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Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Nicodemus came also. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with spices in linen cloths.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. A few people were there at the foot of the cross. We talked about John, the beloved disciple. Roman centurion, too. There were a couple of disciples who were part of the established authority. And so they were kind of secret disciples. One was Joseph of Arimathea, the other was Nicodemus. And they were part of the Sanhedrin, they were Pharisees. But they had heard Jesus and they were not in favor of his condemnation because they knew that he was an innocent man, and they had come to realize that this man was the Messiah. And though they were afraid to stick their neck out because they would have been rejected by the rest of the authorities, they believed. And Joseph especially did something. He's the one who went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. And there must have been some risk in that as well. And Nicodemus, too. They wanted to give this man a decent burial, a final resting place. Because his body was precious and shouldn't just be left to rot on a cross. I think about people who through the centuries have had to worship in secret. Do you ever think of how many persecuted Christians in 2,000 years have held on to their faith? Some have died for it. Many were imprisoned for it. And some simply practiced it in secret. Do you know that I've had to baptize some people who wanted to make sure that we didn't announce to the world that they had converted, because if they went back to their home country, they could have been arrested and put to death. People like that who believe in secret almost still experience the loss and the mourning because they unite themselves to it in a very unique way. They would love to be like the rest of the world and be out singing the songs and walking in processions and going on pilgrimages. But they run the risk of being nailed to another kind of cross, just like Jesus was. So they mourn the death of Jesus. They mourn the fact, too, that they were never able to just hang out with him like other disciples were. So hopefully, those who mourn like them will be able to come out of the darkness and into the light. Joseph of Arimathea took a step. So did Nicodemus. They became saints of the church at the end of the day. But they too had to come to that profession of faith. Faith that Jesus was the Son of God, faith that through his life, his death, and then his resurrection, they too would be able to come to share in eternal life, where there would be no more secret faith, but the fullness of faith, of love, and of life.

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Mary, Mother of Jesus, this child is destined for the falling and rising of many, and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

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Mary, Mother of Jesus. No mother, no father should have to lose a child. Only those who've been there can understand that particular pain. So many times I've had to do funerals for young people, and the mother and or the father were there. I always tell them, you need to turn to Mary, because she understands. She was one of the ones at the foot of the cross, who didn't run away, who didn't hide, who stayed faithful to her son. The son she had brought into the world. She was there when he was taken down from the cross. You know, we have all these beautiful images of the Pietà, Mary holding her dead son in her arms. The most famous one, of course, is at St. Peter's Basilica by Michelangelo. But in a lot of those images, Mary looks serene, at peace. I don't believe it. Some movies have portrayed Mary screaming in agony, wailing because her heart was so broken. She wasn't just a disciple, although she was the first to believe the message of the angel. She wasn't some distant relative or acquaintance. She was his mother. And this was her only son. She cried. She cried so much. She was probably inconsolable. But still she had faith. She had strong faith to be able to say yes at the beginning, at the time of the Annunciation, this young girl being asked to be the mother of the Son of God. She had strong faith to undergo her various sorrows. Some of you are familiar with the seven sorrows of Mary, beautiful devotion that reminds us of how many times Mary had to unite herself to the cross of Christ. But the most painful one, which had been predicted by Simeon at the time of the presentation, was a sword which will pierce your own soul too. Her heart was broken at the death of Jesus. She was in mourning. She cried. But did she say, I hate you, God? I don't believe in you anymore, God, because you let this happen to me and to my son. If nothing else, at least she said, God, help me. Help me to get through this. Help me to bear this heavy burden. Whatever our doubts might be in the darkest hours, we turn to God and offer our pain, our sadness, our tears, knowing that God will hear us and renew that hope that we have of life.

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Peter and the disciples.

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Some of the people who mourned the death of Jesus were not at the foot of the cross. The apostles, who for three years had been walking with Jesus, working with Jesus, living with Jesus, eating with Jesus, they ran away. Because of course they were afraid. Afraid of what might happen to them if they were seen as being associated with this Jesus of Nazareth. Peter denied Jesus three times. And of course Christ had predicted this before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times. And it came to be. And Jesus looked at Peter somewhere. And Peter wept bitterly, we're told in the gospel. He wept bitterly. Jesus wasn't even dead yet, but Peter knew what was going to happen. He knew that he was going to be unjustly condemned to death. And like so many people of his nation, he would have seen other crucifixions. He knew how people suffered on a cross, excruciating pain. And this man who he had seen transfigured, this man who he had seen work miracles, would be shedding his blood and breathing his last. And he wasn't even there. He wasn't even there. So what was Peter mourning? Well, for sure the death of Christ. But maybe also his own weakness, his own unfaithfulness, his own inability to be true to somebody who had been true to him, who had called him from being a fisherman. Yeah, he had stuff to be sorry for. Because in his own way, he had participated in the crucifixion. Jesus never hated him for it. After the resurrection, he would say to him, Feed my sheep. Knowing his weaknesses, which were very clear to everybody, he made him the head of the church. And Peter would accept that unconditional love and infinite mercy of the Lord Jesus. His tears of mourning would be wiped away. He would find comfort, not just because Jesus rose from the dead, but because Jesus was able to embrace him. In his frailty, in his imperfection. There's a beautiful image that was painted some years ago. And this man is basically collapsing in the arms of Jesus, who's behind him, holding him up. And this man is holding a hammer and a nail in his hands, showing us how he had contributed to the crucifixion. But Jesus was holding on to him. And all that man had to do was let go. At the time of death, Peter was able to let go, shed his tears, and accept the mercy of Christ.

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Mary Magdalene. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said, Rabuni.

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One of the people that we know was at the foot of the cross, was Mary Magdalene. Mary of Magdala. I think it's wonderful that not many years ago, Pope Francis elevated the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene, which is in July, to a full feast of Mary Magdalene, bringing her up to the level of the apostles, eh? And that's because she was the first to witness the resurrection. I've actually talked to some people who took offense at her memorial being raised to a feast. How can they do that? That woman? Hello? She was a saint. And by the way, she was not the woman caught in adultery. She had been possessed by seven demons or something. Okay, that's Mary Magdalene. But what we know is that she was a faithful disciple of Jesus. She served him, she believed in him, and she stuck by him when everybody else was running away. And no, don't believe the Da Vinci Code. She was not Jesus' wife, okay? She was a faithful disciple who experienced difficulties in her life and who knew the difference that Jesus made. He made a difference to her as he preached, as he taught in the synagogues, as he worked miracles of healing and compassion. And he worked miracles for her even at his death on the cross. Did Jesus say, Mary Magdalene, you don't belong here? Even though she stayed there? Jesus talked to Mary, his mother, and to the beloved disciple. Didn't say any words to Mary Magdalene, but he allowed her to be there. Wherever she came from, she was allowed to be at the foot of the cross. And Jesus does the same for us. We feel so unworthy so much of the time. Who am I? Miserable sinner. Wiggly worm in the mud. No, we're not. Not to Jesus. Because Jesus, the Son of God, knows that we're part of God's creation. And God does not create garbage. Mary Magdalene was not garbage. She loved Jesus. Jesus loved her. Mother Mary loved her. The other disciples loved her. And she was given that unique privilege later on when she had been crying for who knows how long. She was still crying when she went to the tomb. He gave her the privilege of being the first to see him alive. And he turned her sorrow into joy. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Mary Magdalene shed her share of tears. But Jesus wiped them away. And when finally she would make it to heaven and see him in glory, then she would have no more tears. And neither will we, when after the crosses of this earth, we come to share in the glory of the resurrection.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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During these reflections, we've been walking with those who mourn. Faithful disciples who cried over the death of Jesus. But most of all, we walk with Jesus Himself. Holy Thursday, we celebrate his Last Supper, of course. We practice adoration, usually until midnight. And then I close the doors where the tabernacle is because people need to feel that absence of Jesus. The apostles couldn't get to him. Mary couldn't get to him when he was imprisoned. They would only see him again when Pilate presented him to the people and let him be crucified. Holy Saturday, do we feel Jesus' absence? Do we mourn? Hopefully, we've united ourselves to the Passion of Christ during these most holy days. And as we prepare to celebrate Easter, let's allow our hearts to be comforted so that we can celebrate with joy Christ's victory over sin and death.

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