Holy Saturday optimism (updated the title)

It is the final third of this year’s Paschal Triduum for Christian Catholics like myself—specifically, Black Saturday (the day after Good Friday when Jesus Christ died on the Cross). When I was still living in the Philippines, it was a bustling time of the year. For a nation with a vast majority of Roman Catholics (the most impactful remnant of over 3 centuries of Spanish colonial rule), there are cultural norms akin to a way of life.

For instance, Holy Thursday commences the Triduum and involves the Mass of the Last Supper including the washing of the feet. It was also a day dedicated to the Visita Iglesia, which involves travelling to several churches (7 or 14) to pray the 14 stations of the cross. Confessions were also held. I was telling my children that it became an opportunity for families to spend time with each other or an excuse for teenagers to hang out with their friends and go on an adventure (i.e. travelling to the churches on foot). When my mother was alive and me and my 3 younger siblings were in elementary school, she and my father would always arrange for a family excursion to churches out-of-town for our Visita Iglesia—we used to have an 80s Mitsubishi L300 van and the back stored so much food enough for a birthday party: pancit, rice, adobo, etc. Frankly, the food was my personal motivation hehe. 

Good Friday was a day of mourning, since it is a remembrance of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death. There were many old traditions including not taking a shower, not being loud (no boisterous laughing and such), not doing any type of work or manual labour including cleaning, and fasting and abstinence from meat for those who are of age and are not exempted for health reasons. In the Philippines, folks would attend a noon time service of a community stations of the cross followed by a short program on The 7 Last words. At 3pm, a solemn Good Friday mass was held which began by priests lying face down prostrate on the altar floor and involves a Gospel reading/re-telling of Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion, and individual veneration of the cross (queuing to take turns to genuflect—pre-COVID also involved kissing the corpus on the large crucifix), aside from the usual parts of the mass. 

Black Saturday, like today, is the anticipation of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection with a lengthy Easter Vigil mass late at night. In the Philippines, many people were involved in this service. It was like Christmas Eve service on steroids (in a good way). Mornings were spent preparing at church, choral rehearsals, altar servers and priests practising the sections of the mass, sound checks for readers, physical preparations, etc. The service begins with a blackout and a blessing of the fire outside the church then the lighting of the large Paschal candle (I remember the biblical words “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…so much so that I included part of this passage in my master’s thesis acknowledgement with the statement “I thank the Lord God, who is the <capital Greek Alpha> and the <capital Greek Omega>, the beginning and the end, from Whom all things were made and without Whom I am nothing). Everyone in the congregation has a candle and the source of light is the Paschal candle. The first part of the vigil is in the dark and 7 sets of readings and psalms are heard. At the”Alleluia”, the lights are turned on, the purple cloths that covered the crucifix and images of Jesus are removed, all the bells are rung then festive singing with dancers takes place. Baptismal vows are renewed and persons who have newly converted to Catholicism are welcomed through baptism. You can imagine why this requires rehearsals. After the mass, everyone greets each other “Happy Easter!” and folks would sometimes go to a 24/7 restaurant to celebrate after midnight. If you were a teenager, it may even be the time that you could muster the courage to approach your crush and greet them a happy easter. Hah!

There is also the possibility of attending the Easter Sunday service the following day, though the Easter Vigil is considered the anticipated celebration of the Sunday mass. Either or both could be attended—based on my nonexpert, struggling Roman Catholic self. There are similarities to the Canadian celebrations in terms of the rubrics, and I appreciate the straightforwardness and no frills Paschal Triduum here. There are those who prefer the elaborate celebration of Easter and others who prefer quiet solemnity. I think I am both—whichever is accessible to me. When all my senses are engaged (I failed to mention the use of incense during these high holy celebrations), I almost have no choice but be in the present. I like it a lot. A forced slow motion.

—

To conclude, I would like to quote this book I borrowed from the public library entitled “A short history of Christianity” by Geoffrey Blainey:

“Hebrews held the view that humans had an innate disposition to be sinful: they should be acutely conscious of their failings and should seek forgiveness. This sounds like a gloomy view of life but it was actually optimistic. The individuals who came to terms with their human nature could live in harmony with God, and feel deep comfort, peace and even joy.”

Happy Easter.