Waiting

Something struck me at Mass on Sunday. It was the Transfiguration gospel. It was when at that when at the top of the mountain Elijah and Moses appeared in front of Jesus, they began to speak to each other.

We are not told of the conversation.

Here’s the thing. There were no mortal souls in heaven. Every human being ever born from the beginning of time was waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus to enter to heaven. There is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ.  So all the souls of those who had  departed the earth were waiting , anticipating, hoping and I have to believe, praying. 

So what could’ve been this conversation between Moses and Elijah and Jesus? Neither Moses or Elijah were in heaven. They must’ve known that Jesus’s mission was unfolding. That heavens gate would soon be opened.

There was a famous visionary named Anne Catherine Emmerick in the 17th century who is had visions of the Passion of Christ. Much of Mel Gibson’s movie was based on those visions. 

In one story I had read, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and, as we all know, in great anguish of about what was going to happen.

She described her vision and said, “Jesus, in his great agony, turned and saw the multitude of souls on their knees, praying for Him.” I don’t know why that is always stuck with me when I picture Him there in the garden, but it has. He knew He would be abandoned by his closest friends and followers. The pain and burden about to placed on Him. Maybe that sight fortified Him in some way. 

How many hundreds or thousands of years were those souls anticipating this moment not fully understanding its magnitude. From the simplest of people to the great prophets. Maybe Jesus told Moses and Elijah to go back and tell all the souls to prepare.?

Where did Jesus go for three days between His death and Resurrection? We say, in the Creed, that after his death, he descended into hell. But it is not the hell of eternal damnation. It was the dwelling place for  those souls. 

All the souls who had been waiting.