"In their affliction, they shall look for me"

"In their affliction, they shall look for me.

'Come, let us return to the LORD, For it is he who has torn, but he will heal us; he has struck down, but he will bind our wounds.

He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.'"
(Hosea 5:15b-16:2)

Today, Holy Saturday, is the one day in the calendar when there is no liturgical celebration outside of the divine office. Of course, tonight will be the Solemn Vigil of Easter...but in liturgical time, that is already Sunday. And, though there was no Mass yesterday on Good Friday, we had the veneration of the cross.

Today...nothing. Truly a day outside of time.

The reading above is from today's morning prayer in the divine office. It captures the spirit of what the disciples must have been going through on this day:

Affliction, prayer...guarded hope.

The disciples are in mourning over the death of the Jesus, but they are also in the midst of the Sabbath rest. Praying and waiting. They knew that this couldn't be the end.

But they had no idea what God would do next.

Jesus had predicted both his death and resurrection, but it is clear in the Gospels that the disciples didn't really understand what he had told them--and they wouldn't understand it until after they witnessed the Resurrected Lord. On that first Holy Saturday, they were lost: still people of faith and hope, but cast adrift in their sorrow.

Waiting.

We are waiting, too. A large portion of the country (and the world) is on lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know how bad it will get.

We don't know what God is going to do to bring the light out of the darkness.

But, like the disciples, we know he will somehow.  And, just like the disciples, we will find that God's plan is far different--far better--than we could have expected. We have hope for tomorrow.

But for today...perseverance and patience are our most necessary virtues.