Easter Sunday - A day of rest and quietness

The last month has been so full of events that we have been grateful to celebrate Easter very quietly. I expect Jesus was ready for a rest too... Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday spent in the harrowing of hell...

Easter Saturday is an odd sort of day, betwixt the sorrows of Friday and the rejoicing of Sunday. It helps that we know how it ends, unlike the first disciples.

I think of Jesus spending Saturday descending into hell to lead 'the people who sit in darkness and the shadow of death' into the light, as prophesied in the Old Testament and sung about in the O Antiphons in the week before Christmas. Busy busy busy.

I'm not sure what Jesus did with himself for the rest of that first Easter Sunday, after reassuring the women that he was alive in the morning. Perhaps he found a quiet spot to gather his thoughts before appearing to the rest of the disciples that evening...

This is a chunk from John's gospel, chapter 20;

Like I  said, we have the comfort of knowing that the crucifixion was not the end of everything. 

'Peace be with you' said Jesus, twice. 

May we too receive this peace.