Reflection on Holy Saturday
The wisdom of our God is so great and unconceivable by any intellect, human or angelic. St. Paul says of Him thus: "who alone is immortal, whose home is inaccessible light, whom no human being has seen or is able to see" (1Tim. 6:16). God is so great and infinitely holy, that no man could see Him and live (Ex. 33:20). In attempt to live among us, not only to be seen, He took flesh and dwelt among us in His Son. He took flesh, not to dwell with the living only, but with the dead. He took flesh that He might live with the dead. Today, He is in the realm of the dead. In today's office of the reading, it is said, " He goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: 'And with your spirit.' And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light" (p. 321). With this we know that our resurrection is sure, death is not our end; whether we are alive or dead we shall see the light of Christ, for He is the Lord of both the living and the dead. We should not be afraid  of death anymore.
God defeated santan through humility. God conquered by stooping low to take flesh and to dwell among the vile: He stoops to conquer. Oliver Goldsmith was, perhaps, inspired by his understanding of the mystery of our salvation to write the comedy, 'She Stoops to Conquer'. The play mirrors what God has done in His Wisdom to save us. God took flesh that  He might experience the depth of human condition, the descent into the realm of the dead. To get to the realm of the dead He suffered and died. Paul, the imitator of Christ, understood this wisdom of God and said, "So though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could. To Jews I made myself as a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the Law as one under the Law (though I am not), in order to win those under the Law; to those outside the Law as one outside the Law, though I am not outside the Law under Christ's law, to win those outside the Law. To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated  myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation" (1Cor. 9:19-22). Humility has become the mystery of salvation, the path God took to save us.

Our Lord and God, we thank You for the path You have taken to save us, help us with grace to follow You in the path of humility. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke