Holy Saturday — Intentional Waiting

By Sr. Erin Zubal, OSU | Today’s Readings

Lent is about waiting, but not passive waiting. It’s active, intentional, hopeful waiting.  

Waiting can be joyful and hopeful, as well as dreadful and frightening.  My community, the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, knows all too well the experience of active, intentional waiting. Hope, grace and resurrection eventually showed up for us, but it was a journey to get there. 

In 1980, Sister Dorothy Kazel, along with lay missioner Jean Donovan, and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, were kidnapped, raped and murdered in El Salvador. For days, family, friends, sisters and the world watched and waited for word of their well-being, that they had been found and were coming home. But waiting soon gave way to mourning. 

Fifteen years later, my sisters found themselves waiting again, with tragic familiarity. Sr. Joanne Marie Mascha went out for a walk on the motherhouse grounds and did not return. They waited, prayed, and hoped, and yet again the waiting gave way to mourning. Like the Churchwomen of El Salvador, Joanne Marie was raped and murdered, this time in our own backyard. And the sisters found themselves in the public spotlight, reliving the trauma of 15 years earlier, again grieving one of their own. 

Daniel Pitcher, the man who killed Joanne Marie, was apprehended, confessed to her murder and was charged. Sister Maureen McCarthy, the superior of the community, was very clear that the sisters opposed pursuing the death penalty. But the prosecution persisted, and the jury returned its verdict on Sept. 10, 1995, convicting Daniel Pitcher of rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and murder. 

However, the jury, in filling out the verdict form, did not check the box for the death penalty, so Daniel Pitcher was instead sentenced to 50 years to life. Prayer, advocacy and unending perseverance by the sisters and their allies prevailed. 

This is not where the story ends. Almost 30 years after Daniel Pitcher took Joanne Marie’s life, he sought forgiveness. And just like 30 years earlier, when the sisters were a resounding no to the death penalty, they were a resounding yes to forgiveness. 

After the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday, the world waits in grief, confusion and unanswered questions. It is a day when violence seems to have won, a day when death feels final. It is also the day we sit with the reality of state execution – public, legal and violently enacted. Holy Saturday invites us to remain at the tomb and confront what execution does: it silences, it finalizes, it leaves families and communities shattered on every side. It calls us to advocate for an end to the death penalty, even as we wait at the foot of the cross.

Just as Lent moves us toward Easter, death can ultimately lead to healing and forgiveness. Our waiting was not empty; it was anticipation of resurrection. It was a very long pause, a holding of our breath in courage and hope, before resurrection joy.

Reflection Questions:

1. How are we being called into active waiting this Lent?
2. Where can we find courage and hope in our time of waiting?