On this Holy Saturday, we turn our hearts to another mother—Mary. She, too, held her child in a profound embrace, though hers was one of unspeakable grief. She had witnessed the scourging, crucifixion, and death of her Son. The loss was devastating, a sorrow beyond measure. And yet, even in the silence of this day, she trusted in Jesus’s promise that he would rise again.

Can we imagine the tension within her after they laid Christ’s body in the tomb? She had seen and touched his lifeless body. She had heard and trusted his promise of resurrection. This is the same tension we are called to endure as we journey through the grief of this world, carrying within us Christ’s holy promise of eternal life, even in the face of tremendous loss.

_{^{Image Credit: Käthe Kollwitz, (German, 1867-1945), Mother and Child, 1913; cast 1959, Bronze, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. Bequest of Anneliese Grunebaum, 2002.024. © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.}}