40 Crosses for 40 Days: 40th Cross - The Holy Saturday Crucifix

How devasting today must have been for Jesus' first disciples. To wake up from what must have been troubled, fitful sleep, only to remember the extreme suffering of the dear Lord, and His devasting death. "Certainly," they must have thought, "all is lost. And now, what will happen to us?"

But we, who have the benefit of years of perspective, know that the story does not end on Good Friday. Sin, suffering, death and destruction will not, after all, have the last word. The black cross of Good Friday becomes the white and gold cross of God's glory, stretching out in all directions across all of time and space.

Shortly, this catastrophe will turn into a eucatastrophe, what J.R.R. Tolkien referred to as the sudden, unexpected turn of events that takes place at the end of fairy tales, resulting in a blissfully happy ending. Except that this fairy tale, this story of the God who left the heavens and walked among His people, teaching them, loving them, and ultimately dying for them, is not a fairy tale. It really happened. We will re-live the happy ending tonight at the Easter Vigil, with the lighting of the Pascal fire and the proclaiming of salvation history, ending in the triumph of the cross and the resurrection of the Lord. We will hear the eyewitness account of the empty tomb tomorrow, on Easter Sunday. All is not lost, not by a very long way. In fact, now, all has been given.

Today, we remember that just because we don't see God working, doesn't mean that He is not. Christ is busy, working in a realm we do not see, waking the dead and bringing them new life. With all of creation, we wait and watch in silence. . .