Adam in the underworld on the day we call Holy Saturday -- a tale of unremitting sorrow attuned to a great awakening . . .
. . . told by a Washington DC Dominican seminarian in Dominicana Magazine.
. . . Bathed in darkness and pierced by cold, I have been weeping . . . unceasingly weeping for me and my children. I am alone amid the crowd of my poor family; weeping for what I lost! The warmth of the garden, the beauty of my wife, the gentle breeze of the evening—all sacrificed for a fleeting flirt with self-sufficiency.
We know the story -- forbidden fruit, con-man serpent, the first sin, paradise lost, woe to him and his forever tainted descendents.
And what has this brought me? Pain, misery, sorrow, loneliness—rotten fruits of my own choosing! Deceived by the serpent, I deceived myself and chose to be my own pitiful god. Grasping for forbidden fruit, I spoiled my only chance at happiness.
But this day . . .
. . . there is a great silence . . and stillness . . . the earth is in terror . . . God died in the flesh, and the underworld trembles.
This dead one seeks out . . .
. . . our first parent like a lost sheep . . . comes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He comes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.
We too have our waiting part.
On Holy Saturday we wait at the Lord's tomb, with Mother Mary and the holy men and women, meditating on Jesus' suffering and death.
The altars are left bare, and the Sacrifice of the Mass is NOT celebrated anywhere in the world.
Only after the solemn Vigil during the night, in anticipation of the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy that overflows . . .
Happy Easter, we say to one and all . . .