Holy Saturday and waiting

I hate waiting. I have an impulsive and spontaneous streak. I jump first and ask questions later. I make decisions with the best will in the world, and then live to sort out the reality later. Did I say that I hate waiting?

My kids hate waiting too. Half of my "dealings" with them are trying to school them to wait their turn, wait in line, wait 'til later. However, a lot of my joy comes when they act spontaneously: when they give me a hug, or draw a picture for me, or slide onto my knee in Church because they want to feel closer.

Right now my life is about waiting: our family is waiting to see how the CAT Scan will turn out for my Father in Law who has cancer; I'm waiting to get paid on a bunch of work I've done a couple of months ago (and in the meantime the banks are waiting for their pound of flesh - and they are not patient); I'm waiting to see what happens with my application to enter the Permanent Diaconate program;

Why do I hate waiting? Because I feel powerless, unsure, out of control, aimless. Give me bad news even, and I'll know what to do, but no news, no resolution, and I don't know what to do.

Meanwhile in Church Time we're all waiting what we know will be the Resurrection, but right now Jesus has died and has most decidedly not risen yet:

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.” (Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR. )

What do we believe about Jesus during this time? The Catholic Catechism says

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."⁴⁸⁵ Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."⁴⁸⁶ Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."⁴⁸⁷

^{And so we wait...}