In the Apostle’s Creed we profess that after Christ was
crucified, died and buried, “He descended into Hell.” Christ was not condemned
to Hell, like the rest of humanity. Rather he descended; he went willingly and
with purpose.
The Catechism says, “Jesus, like all men, experienced death
and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended
there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.
From the time of Adam, all who died, whether evil or righteous were deprived of
the vision of God. And Christ went to those who souls who awaited their Savior.
The ancient homily for Holy Saturday puts it this way: “he has gone to free
from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve…the Lord approached them bearing the
cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.”
I remember my first holy Saturday as a seminarian. I was
home for the triduum, and I went to pray in my home parish church. And I
brought with me my breviary, the liturgy of the hours, and for the first time
encountering the famous patristic reading describing Jesus descending into hell
preaching to Adam, the first man, who has been asleep in death from time
immemorial.
Listen to these words, spoken by Christ: ‘I am your God, who
for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your
descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to
come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to
arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a
prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up,
work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this
place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and
we cannot be separated.
In order to prepare for easter, Jesus descended to the
depths of hell, to those who were distant from God, maybe we reach out today to
someone towards whom we’ve grown distant, wish them a happy easter and invite
them to church tomorrow. The Lord no doubt wants to use us to knock on the
doors of the hearts of the fallen away. We do well, certainly to pray for those
who reject the invitation to return to Church.
We quietly and prayerfully wait for easter today, but we
also recognize that though he was in the tomb, Christ was still at work
announcing the Gospel, which is our easter mission. May these last few hours
before Easter, prepare us well for the great celebration and our share in the
great mission for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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