Holy Saturday – 4 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Holy Saturday
Why Our Lord Descended into Limbo
“Wisdom forsook not the just when he was sold but delivered him from sinners; she went down with him into the pit and in bands, she left him not.
Wis x. 13-14
From the descent of Christ to hell, we may learn, 4 lessons for our instruction:
- Firm hope in God.
No matter what the trouble in which a man finds himself, he should always put trust in God’s assistance and rely on it.
There is no trouble greater than to find oneself in hell.
If then, Christ freed those who were in hell, any man who is a friend of God, cannot but have great confidence that he too shall be freed from whatever anxiety holds him captive.
“Wisdom forsook not the just when he was sold but delivered him from sinners; she went down with him into the pit and in bands, she left him not”(Wis x. 13-14).
And since, to His servants, God gives a special assistance, he who serves God should have still greater confidence.
“He who fearth the Lord shall tremble at nothing and shall not be afraid: for He is his Hope” (Ecclus xxxiv. 16). - We ought to conceive the fear of God and to rid ourselves of presumption.
For although Christ suffered for sinners and descended into hell to set them free, He did not set all sinners free but only those who were free of mortal sin.
Those who had died in mortal sin, He left there. Wherefore, for those who have gone down to hell in mortal sin, there remains no hope of pardon.
They shall be in hell as the holy Fathers are in Heaven, that is, forever! - We ought to be full of care.
Christ descended into hell for our Salvation and we should be careful to go down there frequently too, meditating in our minds on hell’s pain and penalties, as did the holy King Ezechias as we read in the prophecy of Isaias, “I said, In the midst of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell” (Isaias xxxviii. 10).
Those, who in their meditations, often descend to hell during life, will not easily succomb at death.
Such meditations are a powerful arm against sin and a useful aid to protect a man and convert him from sin.
Daily we see men kept from evildoing by the fear of the law’s punishments.
How much greater care should they not take, on account of the punishment of hell, greater in its duration, in its bitterness and in its variety.
“Remember thy last end and thou shalt never sin” (Ecclus vii. 40).
- The fact is an example of Love for us.
Christ descended into hell to set those who were His Own free.
We too, therefore, should descend there to help our own. For those who are in Purgatory are themselves unable to do anything and, therefore, we ought to help them. Truly he would be a harsh man indeed, who failed to come to the aid of a kinsman who lay in prison, here on earth.
How much harsher then, the man who will not aid the friend who is in Purgatory, for there is no comparison between the pain there and the pains of this world.
“Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends because the Hand of the Lord hath touched me” (Job xix. 21).
We assist the souls in Purgatory, chiefly by these three means, by Holy Masses, by prayers and by almsgiving.
Is it not wonderful that we can do so, in this world – a friend can make satisfaction for a friend.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
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