Wednesday is silent... If anything happened, the holy writers have drawn the veil... Everything that God could say before the Upper Room had been said... It was man's turn now... Perhaps there were quiet words in a corner of the Garden, both to His children who would flee and to His Father who would stay... Wednesday was His... The heart of that mad, crowded Holy Week was quiet... Tomorrow the soliders would come, and Friday there would be God's great signature in the sky... Thursday and Friday would belong to time and eternity, but Wednesday was of heaven alone...
Silent Wednesday... If our Lord needed it, how much more we whose life is the story of the Hosanna and the Crucify... Time for prayer, for adoration... Time to call the soul into the inner court and the Garden... In our crowded world we are lonely because we are never alone... No time to go where prayer is the only sound and God is the only light... We need more silent Wednesdays... In the glory of the Cross above our dust our silence can become purging and peace... God speaks most clearly to the heart that is silent before Him...
[from the devotional writings of O. P Kretzmann, published in The Pilgrim, pp. 27, 28]
1 comment:
Previously in my life, I had not given much prior thought to “silent Wednesday,” but you have shared an interesting aspect of Holy Week that we all might reflect upon. The Lord shows us that no matter how painful the journey and anticipation of the Cross, an intermission of silence and prayer was needful. When I was a young Marine in Vietnam, sometimes there was a break of time between returning from an operation and going back into the field, always knowing that danger was present and lay outside the perimeters of our base. During that time, soldiers and Marines routinely sat on the cots in their wood frame hootches, cleaning their weapons, smoking cigarette, having a beer, kidding around and bantering as men in war often did to pass the time. Still others would be writing letters home, or talking very little. Each man dealt with these brief times in their own way. I know many of the men were also praying, as well, as they kept most of their feelings of fear and uncertainty hidden. But as for the Lord’s followers and loyal stragglers, worrying about Jesus, His disciples knew that the Lord was in danger from Jewish leaders. And the days ahead looked fraught with anxiety and fear, “silent Wednesday” was their day of reflection too. For Jesus, the day was even more significant, as He knew that the reason for His coming was near fruition, and the prophecy would be fulfilled through His own betrayal, suffering and death on the Cross. Wednesday of Holy Week, as you point out, was a “day of silence.” Perhaps, we should now look at this day differently from now on. I know I will. Soli Deo Gloria
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