WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

Wednesday of Holy week: the Bible is silent.

I am reminded of the marvelous novel SILENCE, by Shusaku Endo: a story from the 1600's in which a Catholic Priest, Fr. Rodriguez, is imprisoned in Medieveal Japan.  His crime: claiming Christ.  The thing which will allow his release: to deny Christ by trampling on an icon of Jesus; which, in the end, he does after years of crying out to Jesus to speak to him and tell him what to do, but Jesus is silent.  Only after he curses Jesus, does Jesus speak to him and let him know that Jesus' mission is to bear our betrayals and sins.  The silence of Jesus finally leads him to understanding and to faith.

Mother Teresa's confessional letters to her confessor are collected in a little book called Come Be My Light.  Pope John Paul II allowed these letters to be published so people would know how much Mother suffered from the Silence of God.

St. John of The Cross titled these dark moments when God is silent: when God seems remote,  La noche oscura del alma..."The Dark Night of the Soul."

Wednesday of Holy Week, a day when God seems to be silent...at least in the sense that we know absolutely nothing of what happened that day in the life of Jesus.  It is a day of darkness before the ultimate darkness of Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

And, so...today in Holy Week...a day of Silence.


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