"Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness.  The whole earth keeps 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.  God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear." - From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday

These words about silence begin the second lesson of today's Office of Readings, and they offer a profound insight into what occurs througout the world on this solemn day.  In the life of a Dominican particularly, this day is truly one filled with silence.

This silence began with the traditional ceasing of the melodies of the organ and the ringing of the bell after the Gloria on Holy Thursday evening.  The silence continued into the Divine Office as we commemorated the crucifixion and death of our Savior on Good Friday.  Through the Office's being stripped down to its bare bones just as Christ was stripped of His garments, we put aside any devotional additions to the Office.  Something that a Dominican will particularly notice is the absence of the O Sacrum Convivium with which we normally begin the Office.  This antiphon, written by our brother St. Thomas, is omitted when the Office is not prayed in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  Thus, since our Lord has been taken away just as He was first taken away in the Garden of Gethsemani and then taken away after His death, so too is there no Blessed Sacramentto adore.  And thus, there is no O Sacrum.

Yet, this silence isn't what is most noticeable in a Dominican priory celebrating the Triduum.  It helps, of course, and is important.  But what is most noticeable is the silence that pervades the interior of the brothers' hearts.  Thus does the silence within the liturgy manifest itself in the life of the community.  The brothers, recollecting the sacred moments of our Lord's passion and death, show forth this interior silence in a most beautiful exterior way - through their disposition.  Just as the world waits in silence on this day as our Lord sleeps, so too do the brothers keep an interior vigil awaiting the Great Vigil of the night.  For when the Gloria is sung again and the brothers shed their cappas as the lights brighten the chapel, when the organ's trumpets once again blare forth their melodious sounds and the ringing of bells joyously returns, it is in this moment that we see just how profound the silence of Holy Saturday has really been.  It is then - as the Eater Vigil beginning in darkness and moving forward guided by the Light of Christ - that we see that the silent wait of Holy Saturday has fruitfully prepared us for the great and glorious celebration of the Lord's victory over death.

So let us wait in silence as the Lord sleeps this day.  And let our hearts turn toward Him in patient expectation as He silently works to free the captives from the gates of death, so that we too may be freed from sin and death on this great night of His resurrection.