Holy Saturday
- Christ in Limbo by Fra Angelico
Holy Saturday is a strange day, a day with Jesus dead, and the day when, according to the Apostles' Creed, he descends into hell. Though I try very hard not to believe hell exists, I still find this idea of the harrowing of hell kind of compelling and I'm not alone .... guys from Thomas Aquinas to Hans Urs von Balthasar have written about it. Wikipedia ...
Some maintain that Christ did not go to the place of the damned, which is what is generally understood today by the word "Hell". For instance, Thomas Aquinas taught that Christ did not descend into the "Hell of the lost" in his essence, but only by the effect of his death, through which "he put them to shame for their unbelief and wickedness: but to them who were detained in Purgatory he gave hope of attaining to glory: while upon the holy Fathers detained in Hell solely on account of original sin, he shed the light of glory everlasting." [Summa Theologica: Christ's descent into hell]
While some maintain that Christ merely descended into the "limbo of the fathers", others, notably theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (inspired by the visions of Adrienne von Speyr), maintain that it was more than this and that the descent involved suffering by Jesus. [Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter by Hans Urs Von Balthasar .... Was Balthasar a Heretic? (First Things)] .....
Interesting, but if I didn't know better, I'd wonder if the concept of the harrowing of hell was constructed to distract us from the emptiness of a day without Jesus.
posted by crystal | 5:32 PM
7 Comments:
Some young women in our parish performed a wonderful liturgical dance last night which involved moving a long swath of red cloth over the heads of the entire ongregation. As the cloth proceeded over our heads it briefly blocked the lights of the church demonstrating in a powerful way the complete if temporary absence of Christ. Your very interesting posts remind me that the hell in my life is often where Christ isn't. A gorgeous and sunny Holy Saturday here non-the-less. Thanks and Happy Easter! Rich
Fascinating post, Crystal. Thanks for sharing.
And Happy Easter!
Peace,
Michael
Richard,
A liturgical dance - that sounds really interesting. Happy Easter to you too.
Michael, thanks. Happy Easter!
Oops, I think the proper term is liturgical movement. I knew "dance" didn't sound quite right, very solemn.
I find it hard to know how to take theological concepts as they get more and more detailed. Tends to strike me as "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin." But as I think I may have shared on my blog at some point, I overdosed on theology at U of Chicago - including having to read the passage about the angels on the head of the pin!
Hi Paul,
It does seem like the more detailed traditional teachings get, the less likely it is they can correctly reflect reality .... eek, did I say that outloud? :)
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