Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

Today's Mass Readings

His Cross stands empty in a world grown silent
Through hours of anguish and of dread;
In stillness earth awaits the resurrection
While Christ goes down to wake the dead.
(The first verse of the Hymn for Lauds and Vespers of Holy Saturday at Conception Abbey)

We stand before the empty cross still stained with the blood the Holy Sacrificial Victim. We are silent and do not know what to do next. We hear that the disciples of Jesus have gone into hiding, behind locked doors, out of fear and anguish. They wait not knowing what to do next and we too wait as Jesus is placed in the darkness of the tomb. The whole Church waits in stillness because today there is no holy Mass celebrated. Rather, we are called to wait in silent contemplation of this holiest of weeks. We meditate on Jesus as his body was lowered from the cross and laid in the arms of his grieving mother. We look upon the scene of Jesus being wrapped in linen burial cloths by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in the tomb and we watch as the large stone is rolled into place sealing Jesus in.

As we wait in the stillness of our hearts, we begin to remember the three predictions that Jesus spoke to his disciples of his Passion. He says in the third prediction in Mathew’s Gospel, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 20:18-19). We can imagine that the disciples of Jesus did not know what to think of these predictions. Peter even pulled Jesus aside and rebuked him. But now, all that was said has come to pass except that he has yet to be raised for there is one more night.

Let us continue to wait outside the tomb with hearts filled with sorrow and anticipation. Let us remember the words of Jesus to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prepared for his sacred passion, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). Let us remain at the tomb and keep watch with our beloved Jesus for one more night as we await the Glory of the third day.

Reflection by Br. Placid Dale, OSB