By Sr. Teresa Joseph, FMA –
Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil
Our hope is nurtured with the solemn silence of Holy Saturday, in the great waiting for the resurrection of Jesus. On this day the Church waits in prayer like Mary and together with Mary shares the same sentiments of sorrow and confidence in God. Throughout the day a climate of prayer favourable to meditation and reconciliation is encouraged in order to participate in the Pasqual Feast truly renewed in mind and heart.
In the midst of the Covid -19 pandemic, the recollection and silence of Holy Saturday will lead us to the solemn Easter vigil. Most of us will participate in it from our homes and communities by means of live broadcasts. This particular experience will certainly help to strengthen our faith in the Risen Lord. Once again we acknowledge the victory of light over darkness, of life over death and the Church rejoices in the encounter with her Lord. In this way we will enter into the spirit of the Resurrection of the Lord.
The passion, death and resurrection of Christ are even today a “saving” event for all those who adhere to it with their life. The intimate force of the works accomplished by the Lord on the Cross continues to strengthen the faithful even today. As we continue to accompany Jesus, it comes natural to us to ask: What happens today the Holy Saturday? An ancient anonymous homily titled: The Lord’s descent into hell offers a profound insight: What is happening?
“Today there is great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.”
Easter is the feast of the New Creation. The Holy Saturday is the day of waiting for the Resurrection; it is lived very intensely by Mary the Mother of Jesus and our Mother. It is from here the beginning of the devotion of the Church to Memoria of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday. Now more than ever Mary is the morning star, the star of the morning that announces the coming of the Lord.
On the vigil of his passion Jesus went on to say to his disciples, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” Jn 16:16. As we wait in hope for his return, what else can we do if not meditate on his descent into hell. “Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God and Adam’s son […] and grasping Adam’s hand he raises him up, saying ‘Awake oh Sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light’” The Lord’s descent into hell.
At the night of the great Saturday
The Church, in this time of Covid -19 invites the faithful to celebrate the most solemn of her vigils to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from their homes. This celebration is the fundamental nucleus of the Christian liturgy in the course of the entire year. A great variety of symbolical elements: fire, the Easter candle, water, incense, music and the chiming of bells express the passage from darkness to light, from death to new life, the Resurrection of the Lord.
The light of the candle is sign of Christ, light of the world, who illumines everything and everyone, the fire is the Holy Spirit, lighted by Christ in the heart of the faithful, water signifies the passage to new life in Christ, source of life; the Easter alleluia is the hymn of the pilgrims on journey towards the Jerusalem of heaven, the bread and wine for the Eucharist is a reminder of the Eschatological banquet with the Risen Lord.
To follow Jesus more intimately
Jesus is in no way a hero to be exalted but a “living” and “contemporary” to follow. That moment when one man came out alive from the sepulchre everything changed in the history of humanity! From that unique moment death is no more the definitive word on the destiny of human beings, it was just the beginning of a new existence, of a new life, that which is true, inaugurated by the humble son of the carpenter of Nazareth: Jesus. This event is called “Easter”, Christianity is founded on the birth, passion, death, resurrection and glorification of Jesus. He is our Hope even in the midst of Covid -19…
The Holy Week and the great happenings that we celebrate during this week: the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the passion, death, burial, the resurrection of the Lord are the events that forever have marked the story of humanity and constitute the fundamental object of faith and life of Christians. The centre of Christian faith is the event of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, the fulcrum of the liturgical year is the Mystery of Christ, celebrated in the great and solemn Holy Week. From it derives and to it converge all the other celebrations through the course of the year. Likewise from it surfaces the sanctifying force and the sanctifier of all the sacraments.
The liturgy of the Holy Week sheds new light on the human person, his/her story, vocation to be a new person, to be in Christ a new creature. Jesus is living and is a contemporary to be followed. The saving event even today for you and me is an invitation to follow Jesus more intimately. In Christ we are called to be a new creature.
Sr Teresa Joseph, FMA is a Salesian Sister of the Bombay Province. She holds a masters degree in Science of Education with specialization in Catechetics from Auxilium Rome and a PhD in Missiology with specialization in Inter-religious Studies from the Gregorian University Rome.
Sr Teresa is a freelance writer and contributes articles for various journals in India and abroad. Her recent publications include Dream Big Dream True and Family of Truth: The Liminal Context of Inter-Religious Dialogue. She has launched and co-edited an animation book for the family titled Stay Connected in the Circle of Love (2007).