In the modern era there are professional grief counselors, pastors, priests, spiritual directors etc., who attempt to help mourners, who live in a world intent on denying death itself (as much as it tries also to deny sin) come to grips with the consequences of original sin: suffering and death.
The Silence and Emptiness without Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament
In the monastery with a structured life anchored to Jesus – especially his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament – the Triduum is a silent earthquake. We are spouses of Christ. Though our formation and spiritual education orients our minds to know that Jesus’ death unworked death itself and changes EVERYTHING, we are yet fallen humans and our emotions don’t always align with our intellects. We too grieve. We too face all the pains and discomforts that make up human life and death. Remember what Jesus did before raising Lazarus from death? He wept. He grieved, demonstrating his humanity and also his divine-weeping. Weeping that through human sin, death came to his human creation. And he knew that in moments he would raise Lazarus. Still he wept.
Table settings and decoration for our most solemn meal of the year, our Holy Thursday Agape Meal.
We know the Triduum ends in glory and resurrection but we must permit mourning even as we may be tempted in the business of getting ready for the Easter Vigil to not rest in the silent weeping for Christ. This is why our holy hours continue before empty tabernacles. It is a necessary exercise in praying with the Church at the tomb. He is gone. He is not here. Objects that focus on who is not there. Shrouds of violet cover Chapel crucifixes and statues. Empty stands where statues once stood. Empty holy water fonts. Sisters accidentally genuflecting in a “Jesus-less” oratory. Muted movements. Somber flames votive lights. Empty tabernacles. In the Divine Office, lower tones, we remain seated and do not rise to bow or sing the glory be as usual between the psalms. The organ is silent. There are no bells. There are no flowers.
Triduum “clapper” or crotalus instead of bells
Unlike a parish where all the ceremonies take place in the Church, every room in a monastery – normally meant to more easily keep the mind on Jesus through religious symbols, art, sacramentals and devotionals – now serves to highlight absence. We may see an image portraying our Lord in a cell but remember then at that moment the tabernacle is empty. Much like a widower’s fresh grief or pang when his eyes fall on his wife’s closet or a widow going through her husband’s items after the funeral. Yes, we believe in Resurrection and the new Heaven and Earth to come, but it does little to assuage the pain in the here and now. As Nuns, we have the luxury of “living with Jesus” but also the capacity to perceive the physical void that Holy Saturday forces into our senses. And in all the tasks that must be done in preparation for the long and wonderful Easter season perhaps the most spiritually fruitful occupation is doing nothing. Doing nothing and missing Someone very dear.
Even while knowing our Spouse is making all things new in his sleep of death we allow ourselves the mournful wait alone in an empty oratory. A sadness that yet quivers with hope – a hope soon to be fulfilled in our lives of time and space and eternally when Christ comes again.
Resurrect Sicut Dixit!