A selection of readings from Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, Baruch, Ezekiel;
Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 118; Matthew 28:1-10

Saturday, the Sabbath, after the day when the world fell apart.

The disciples were cowering in fear, crushed with grief. For them, it was all over. They thought this was the way that the rest of their lives would feel, life without the One who had been the center of life, who brought them joy and hope and purpose and passion.

Mary Magdalen and the women were making preparations to anoint the dead body of their beloved friend after the Sabbath was over. Don’t we know the same feeling of needing to DO something when all seems lost?

Sunday had not yet dawned. Clarity and understanding still awaited them.

But it is different for us. We know this is a day in-between, a day after tragedy but before victory.

For we have felt the power of Jesus who reduces death to an intermediate stop on the way. We have seen the glory of the Christ who didn’t cling to his godly status, but who became one with us in all our brokenness & incompleteness.

So we wait not in despair but in hope, for we have already received the gift of risen life, life in Christ’s Spirit. The same Jesus whom God raised to new life as Sunday morning dawned, centuries ago, is the Christ who walks with us now, by our side, in our hearts and words and deeds, through all our days.

For us, today is a day of waiting. But it is not an end, for we are graced to live on the other side of Easter.  Alleluia!

–Sr. Regina Bechtle

Sr. Regina, a retreat leader, speaker, writer and spiritual director, serves as Charism Resource Director for the Sisters of Charity of New York.