HOLY  SATURDAY

Death is a fact of life.  A fact, however, that we avoid, don't talk about and fear.  George Bernard Shaw rightly quipped that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes - and even in death there are taxes!
Death is an important topic because our faith is rooted in Jesus rising from the dead. Faith, then, doesn't avoid death, but rather confronts it head on. Jesus not only confronted death: He conquered it.

Jesus is the Author of Life and, by dying on the cross, he destroyed the one who has the power of death, the devil. Jesus holds the keys of Death and Hades so that at His Name every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth.

"Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began....He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve...."I am your God, who for your sake have become your son....I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."(from Ancient Homily on Holy Saturday)