Since I have a very hard time continuing my Lenten fast on Holy Saturday for some reason, I liked this poem: TO Keep a True Lent, by Robert Herrick.
Is this a Fast, to keep The larder lean, And clean, From fat of veals and sheep? Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still To fill The platter high with fish? Is it to fast an hour, Or rag'd to go Or show A downcast look or sour? No; 'tis a Fast to dole Thy sheaf or wheat And meat, Unto the hungry soul. It is to fast from strife. From old debate, And hate; To circumcise thy life. To show a heart grief-rent, To starve thy sin, Not bin; And that's to keep thy Lent. — Robert HerrickHoly Saturday is a day of quiet waiting, sometimes called the Second Sabbath (after Creation) in the Church.
From an address by Pope Benedict:
In the silence of this night, in the silence that encases Holy Saturday, touched by the unconfined love of God, let us live in expectation of the dawn of the Third Day, the dawn of the victory of the love of God, the dawn of light that allows the eyes of the heart to see, in a new way, life, difficulties, suffering. Our failures, our disappointments, our bitterness that seems to mark the fall of everyone, are illuminated by hope. The act of love of the Cross confirmed by the Father and the blazing light of the Resurrection wraps around and transforms everything: from betrayal can grow friendship, from denial, pardon; from hatred, love.Today the Divine Mercy Novena is for priests and religious.
Grant us, Lord, that we might carry our own cross with love, our everyday crosses, with the certainty that they will be made into light by the brilliance of your Pasch. Amen.
