Welcome to the Saturday Examine.

Welcome to the Saturday Examine.

This week's readings can be hard to absorb, and yet we are invited every year to walk the road to Calvary with Jesus.

It needs courage and generosity to do this.

Yet we know that these days overflow with grace if we can stay with them as they unfold.

St Ignatius emphasizes the importance of entering into the waiting experience of Holy Saturday.

The creeds and ancient icons of Jesus descending into hell

show him in the dark vault of the underworld,

flattening the gates of hell with strong feet,

in which we see the mark of the nails.

Satan is crushed under the gates and lies there, bound and chained, as he has previously

bound and chained us and all of God's creation. The vault below is full of the locks and chains with which Satan has imprisoned us.

But Jesus pulls Adam and Eve into the light of his love and freedom. St. Paul tells us that he frees the whole creation

from the frustration to which it was subject. Everything and everyone is brought to the fullness of life in Jesus.

As you think of this time of waiting, and the liberation brought to our world by Jesus' death and resurrection,

become aware of God's presence in your life and in the world.

What gifts and graces would you want to thank God for, as you remember experiencing

God's liberating love and mercy in your life? I'm You know, I'm The

The You know, Perhaps you can find an icon of this scene to contemplate.

If not, how do you feel as you imagine Jesus freeing us, and the whole of creation from all that is death-dealing and frustrates

God's life-giving purposes. The

The The

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