The “airplane mode” of the soul

Imagine that the whole world, which usually moves at a frantic pace, comes to a pause. All the news received on Friday (the trial, the cross, the pain, the sorrow, the death) has fallen silent, but the music and joy of Sunday have not yet begun. It is a technical silence, like when a film pauses, waiting for its final scene. In this “airplane mode,” the external noise fades so you can hear the beating of your own heart, of your own hope. It is silence in its fullest expression; it is not “emptiness,” but space; not God’s indifference, but His way of working in what is hidden. It is the day of “hidden hope”, together with Mary.

Holy Saturday is the hour of the mother and of the courage of women. While the disciples were shut in out of fear, confused and discouraged; Mary and the women are not paralyzed. They “saw the glimmer of light” in the darkness because they loved. Mary is the only one who keeps the flame of faith and hope alive when everything seemed lost. Therefore, it is not a silence of despair, but of absolute hope in the promise of the Resurrection.

Holy Saturday is the day to trust that God has the power to remove our “tombstones”, the stones that block us (pessimism, sadness, the feeling that “nothing is worth it”, or resentment) and to give us a new beginning. Holy Saturday is the slow heartbeat of the earth; it is the day of preparation for the light. It teaches us to hope against all hope, reminding us that “darkness does not have the last word”, so that the “alleluia” of the Easter Vigil may spring from a renewed heart.