Holy Saturday
Jesus rises from the dead
Today we meditate on our relationship with Christ, from it’s first revelation to it’s culmination in the resurrection. We begin with prayer. In the tradition of the Easter Vigil Mass traditionally held on Holy Saturday, each scripture is paired with a hymn on which to meditate.
opening prayeR (Aloud)
My Lord, today all is silent. You have given Your precious life for the salvation of the world. You died a horrific death, poured out all Mercy from Your wounded Heart, and now You rest in peace in the tomb as the soldiers keep vigil.
Lord, may I also keep vigil with You as You sleep. I know that this day ends with Your glorious triumph, Your victory over sin and death. But for now I sit quietly mourning Your death.
Help me, dear Lord, to enter into the sorrow and the silence of this Holy Saturday. Today no Sacraments are celebrated. Today the world waits in mourning in anticipation of the glory of new life!
As I keep vigil, awaiting the celebration of Your Resurrection, fill me with hope. Help me to look forward to the celebration of Your Resurrection, but also to look forward to the hope of my own share in the new life You won for the world. I entrust my whole being to You, dear Lord, as You lay lifeless and still. May Your rest transform the brokenness of my own soul, my weaknesses, my sin and my frailty. You are glorious and You bring the greatest good out of Your apparent defeat. I trust in Your power to do all things and I entrust my life to You. Jesus, I trust in You.
Amen
“On Good Friday our gaze remains fixed on the crucified Christ, but Holy Saturday is the day of the ‘death of God,’ the day which expresses the unparalleled experience of our age, anticipating the fact that God is simply absent, that the grave hides Him, that He no longer awakes, no longer speaks, so that one no longer needs gainsay Him but can simply overlook Him.”
A Reading from Genesis 1:1—26-31
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.God blessed them, saying:"Be fertile and multiply;fill the earth and subdue it.Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food."And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, God creates the moon and the stars
Why do we start here in the beginning? Because this is where God begins his relationship with us. God created man in his image for one reason, to have a relationship. Being made in God’s image provides every human with a spark of the divine, to provide reason and a soul. The first, reason, gives us the ability to speak the language of God, to converse with Him in his own language, and transcend the physical reality to look for something more. The second, the soul, gives us the ability to love, to experience the very essence of God. Without these essential tools, there is no relationship. But Adonai, God with Us, reaches out. In return, our souls cry out in wonder at the world he created for us.
Listen to the hymn below (words included for easy following). As you listen, meditate on your relationship with God the Creator.
What makes your soul sing out God? Capture your reflections as the hymn concludes.
Rembrandt, The Sacrifice of Isaac.
A Reading from Genesis 22:1-2, 9A, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test He called to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am, " he replied. Then God said:"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am, " he answered. "Do not lay your hand on the boy, " said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him.I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing-- all this because you obeyed my command."
Here with Abraham, we see that in any relationship, there is always a choice to be made. Isaac is not just Abraham’s son. He is what Abraham held most dear in all the world. Yet, when God asks for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, The relationship between God and Abraham is so intimate and trusting that Abraham can deny God nothing. So, Abraham chooses faith. Abraham chooses to believe that God has a plan for him, so he takes his only Son out into the dessert to be sacrificed. In the end, Abraham’s faith is rewarded. In the end, we can choose to trust in God, or we can choose to put him by the wayside and go our own way. God is a gentleman. He would never compel us. We can choose to love God and put him first in our lives or we can choose to put our own selfish desires first. Regardless of our choice, God did sacrifice his own Son, to pay the price for our selfish desires lived out. Like Abraham, God will shield us from danger and in times of darkness provide us a path forward.
Listen to the hymn below. As you listen, meditate on your relationship with God the Provider.
Do we trust God enough to order and provide? Capture your reflections as the hymn concludes.
A Reading from Exodus 14:15-15:1
The LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea split the sea in two, that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land. But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."
The angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp, now moved and went around behind them. The column of cloud also, leaving the front, took up its place behind them, so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians and that of Israel. But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer together all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea
with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea. In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels
that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers." So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the LORD hurled them into its midst.
As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped.
But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the LORD
had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
Sistine Chapel, The Crossing of the Red Sea
“I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
When we look at this passage from Exodus through the lens of New Testament revelation, it becomes clear that the parting of the Red Sea is here to instruct us on the nature of our relationship with God the Savior. God leads us through death and burial to life and freedom on the other shore. This same passage from death and burial to life and freedom from sin occurs for every Christian through the waters of Baptism. Thus through Baptism we are delivered. We are wholly new creations, no longer slaves to sin, but a free and chosen people. But would we falter along the way. Surely, as they walked through the night with a wall of water on their left and right, it would be reasonable for their confidence to waiver. But God is faithful in all things, guiding us gently through the still of the night. This darkness of Holy Saturday, where God is absent from Earth also passes. On the other shore, Easter awaits. So as we keep vigil in this darkness, we remember that God’s faithfulness is great and he will see us safely to that other shore.
Listen to the hymn below. As you listen, meditate on your relationship with God the Deliverer. .
When has your faith in God wavered in the dark? Capture your reflections as the hymn concludes.
“Something strange is happening here—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.”
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, The Creation of Adam
“God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.”
A Reading from ISAIAH 55:1-11
Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David. As I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of nations, so shall you summon a nation you knew not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down
and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
Here in Isaiah, we beckoned by God to come and ask for our physical comforts as well as our spiritual comforts. We are to come as we are humbled and broken, without money or assumption of repayment. Just as God reaches out his hand to Adam, so God reaches out to us. To provide for us. “Seek the Lord while he made be found..” There is no time to waste. Come as you are to find shelter and rest and he will show mercy and glorify you. He is your refuge and your banquet table. The world can overflow with God’s goodness. We are not called to live life in God, but to live it abundantly. Our time for lent is ending, making way for the Paschal feast. Come to the table, whatever you are wearing, whatever you have, whatever you have done.
Listen to the hymn below. As you listen, meditate on your relationship with God the Merciful. .
What keeps you from thinking you are not ready to meet God? Capture your reflections as the hymn concludes.
A Reading from Matthew’s Gospel (28:1-10)
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him
and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Rembrandt, Jesus and Mary Magdalene
If you didn’t believe that God would accept you as you are, Listen to the words of Jesus in the Gospel. Be Not Afraid! If you doubted that you could come as you are, consider who first hears of Christ’s resurrection. Mary Magdalene. When she is mentioned in Luke chapter 8, she is described as the woman from whom 7 demons had gone out. She is a repentant sinner, Yet her relationship with Jesus has been a journey of accompaniment, as she followed him, listening to his preaching. She followed him all the way to Calvary and sat at the foot of the Cross with his mother, Mary. She is a disciple of Christ. The catechism reminds us that “Disciples of Christ are those who, despite human weaknesses, are healed by him and commit themselves to follow him, becoming witnesses of his merciful love (CCC 640-641). This love is there for you today.
Listen to the hymn below. As you listen, meditate on your relationship with God the Healer. .
From what weakness has Jesus healed you? Capture your reflections as the hymn concludes.
We are Redeemed
As we look forward toward Easter, use the hymn below as a form of prayer, asking Christ to take you boldly into the future with a clear vision of a life abundant in the love of Jesus.
Thank you for spending this time reflecting on the word of God. Have a blessed Easter.