Job 14:1-14 (Saturday)

Year A - Holy Saturday or Absent Saturday

April 19, 2014

Job 14:1-14

Time to get out paper and pencil (or fountain pen—my latest is an inexpensive Hero from China though I usually use a Blue Lamy Safari 1.1 italic nib with Noodler’s English Rose with Black Swan ink).

Down an edge of the paper write the following understandings with enough space to allow for a couple of sentences between.

a flower grows only to die
in the dark shadows are absent
dirt is dirt
we die; we expire
there is no awakening the dead

Now the tough part that should take at least 15 minutes. Reflect and write where you are experiencing these realities. Does the same response show up as a refrain in each setting? Is there a different experience for each? Where do you have several examples clamoring for attention? Where is there only silence?

Attend to your losses, your silences, until you can only sit numb. To do less is to say this Paschal Triduum is fluff, of no consequence, was maybe helpful to someone a long time ago, but not worth attending to today. No numbing loss; no surprise for you at hope’s return.