04/04/2026
✝️ A Holy Saturday meditation on waiting in silence, trusting that even in the stillness of the tomb, God is already at work.
What “silences” in my life am I being invited to trust rather than fear?
How do I remain faithful when God seems absent or hidden?
What hope am I holding onto as I wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled?
Excerpt from "The Presence of Jesus in the Absence" by Sr. Lilly Chalakkal, O.P.
Like the disciples and Mary Magdalene, we encounter the empty tomb...
The empty tomb, the symbol of our faith in the Resurrection, the sign of our search for Jesus and finding Him alive.
The presence of Jesus in the absence.
The presence of JESUS IN OUR VACUUM.
Life of Jesus in death—the promise of eternal life to all those who believe in Him.
The empty tomb, the joy in the sorrow.
The true peace in chaos.
The fulfillment of the promise (“I will rise from the dead”).
God the Father's love for humanity, for you and me.
In the Gospel of John, no “word” of Jesus is more eloquent, no sign more transparent, no testimony more compelling than that of His death.
Even before the Passion begins to unfold, the Johannine Jesus had clearly interpreted His impending death as an act of love.
Jesus was the “Son” delivered by God out of love for the world (3:16). Jesus was the “Good Shepherd” who would lay down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11). “The grain of wheat” that had to fall to the earth and die in order to bear fruit (Jn 12:24). Jesus was the singular friend who would give His very life out of love for His beloved (Jn 15:13). Jesus indeed would love His own “to the end” (Jn 13:1). (D. Senior, CP)
The tomb of Jesus is a special sanctuary because it will witness what no other human being will witness. God’s refusal to leave Jesus, His beloved Son, to rest in peace. No “Rest in Peace” will ever be written over Jesus’ borrowed tomb. The hour of Jesus’ Passion is not just an hour of His life but the final and eschatological hour of salvation which Jesus fulfills as Messiah. The hour can be seen and understood as the consummation of the meaning of the Incarnation.
The ordinary understanding of the Passion is to consider it psychologically and physiologically: the burdensome way of the Cross is preceded by the psychological agony in the garden, as well as brutal treatment in the crowning with thorns and scourging at the pillar.
All this is foreign to John. John examines the Passion theologically and soteriologically. From the outset, Jesus knows all that will befall Him. “Jesus was aware of all that would happen to Him” (Jn 18:4). Just as Jesus alone knew the Father, so He alone knew His hour (Jn 13:1; 18:4).
All that He does is accomplished in full awareness of what should be done.
After that, Jesus, realizing that everything was now finished, said, to fulfill the Scripture, “I am thirsty” (19:28).
The Passion of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is not that of a passive victim or a reluctant captive.
With full awareness of all of the events and their meaning for Himself and for others, He controlled what was happening to Him and brought them to the fulfillment expected of Him in full liberty. In John, Jesus is always serene, with full dignity. He commands the soldiers in the garden; with a similar attitude, He responds to Annas and remains a king in the presence of Pilate.
Here, the way of the Cross is not a defeat, but a triumph.
The Cross of Jesus becomes the throne from which the KING WILL REIGN.
No sorrow, no suffering will mar (ruin) the power and dignity of the only Son of God.
Christian theology often views the Cross as expiatory, a sacrifice for sins.
John sees the crucifixion as the presence of salvation and the full revelation of the meaning of Jesus. The goodness of God overwhelms us, for God has loved us in our sins.
The sign of this goodness finds expression in the gift of Jesus as God’s Son, even unto death.
Jesus dies, but His death is more than what seems apparent (evident and clear).
In truth, Jesus reigns in His death, for then He can communicate His Spirit to those who will receive it.
The Passion according to John ends in triumph just as it began. (John O’Grady, The Gospel of John)
Through the Passion, John’s Gospel proclaims that the death of Jesus, as an act of total self-donation, is the ultimate revelation of God’s redemptive love for the world.
The Cross as a symbol of life: John’s kenotic image of Jesus interprets His life as one of self-giving love, the revelation of love itself. Jesus’ death is the final and supreme act of His love, revealing the way to the knowledge of God. In the Fourth Gospel, the image of God clarifies why, in the Synoptic Gospels, the first and greatest commandment is always the commandment to love, and why John echoes this in the final commandment which Jesus gives His disciples.
The death of Jesus is portrayed in Christian faith and hope as an act of life, as an affirmation of life in the face of death. And the Cross of Jesus is a symbol not of death but of an unquenchable and invincible life that this world can neither give nor take away from us. The Cross of Jesus represents the beginning of a new life, a new creation that culminates in the resurrection of the just.
The self-giving and life-giving love of the crucified and the risen Christ constitutes the Paschal Mystery, the central mystery of the Body of Christ, the temple of His Spirit.
John’s Passion narrative concludes with the brief burial scene. The rapid burial in accord with Jewish custom, the presence of Joseph of Arimathea, the use of a new hewn tomb. But other elements are unique to John: the inclusion of Nicodemus and the absence of the women, the use of a massive amount of spices, and the location of the tomb in a “garden.” (Donald Senior)
