Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.’ (John 14:6)

Today's reflection is by Kori Pacyniak,
member of the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Boston University

Growing up in a Polish Roman Catholic household, Holy Saturday began with the blessing of the baskets filled with all the fixings for Easter Breakfast – ham, bread, boiled eggs, horseradish, salt, pepper, and something sweet. The blessed food would be eaten on Easter Sunday after the Resurrection service. Since Holy Saturday was a day of fasting, it seemed like minor torture to sit through a service with this basket of fragrant food sitting next to me and not being able to eat anything. Afterwards, we’d make a pilgrimage among the local churches, visiting the ‘tombs’ that were created. Many of the churches dedicated an area of the church as a tomb with parishioners keeping vigil from Good Friday through Easter Sunday. It was eerie but powerful, visiting the ‘tomb’ and pondering what it might have been like for the disciples who had just lost their friend and teacher. We at least have the solace of knowing that the resurrection will come. Nonetheless, there is a heaviness to Holy Saturday, the feeling of ‘remaining.’

Sometimes, we can’t see or feel God’s presence in our lives. Sometimes it seems like we have been abandoned, that we are in the darkness, the emptiness between death and resurrection. But we have solace in the resurrection, in the knowledge that no matter how lost we feel, how dark the world around us seems, we have life and guidance through Christ. In the words of Thomas Merton:

I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following your will
Does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road
Though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though,

I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
And you will never leave me to face my struggles alone. Amen.