Saturday, 19 April

Readings — Rom. 6:3-11; Ps. 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Lk. 24:1-12.

1. The Holy Saturday Vigil is the "mother of all vigils," "the greatest and most noble of all solemnities" (Roman Missal). It is the turning point of the Paschal Triduum, the Passover of the new covenant, which marks Christ's passage from death to life. The roots of the Easter vigil reach back to the Apostolic generation.

2. For many centuries, no services were held on Holy Saturday. Beginning in 1955, the Church restored the evening Easter or Holy Saturday Vigil. It commemorates the final day which we traditionally associate with Christ's triumphant "descent into hell" or "to the dead."

The Vigil celebrates the 40-hr long-vigil that Christ's followers with the Blessed Mother held for him after his burial on Good Friday and before his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

3. The Gospels have fairly terse burial narrations:

Mt. 27:59-61; Mk. 15:46-47; Lk. 23:53-56;

Jn. 19:38-42 — Joseph of Arimathea (with Nicodemus) took the body of Jesus, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid the body in his own new tomb and rolled a great stone to the door. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (the mother of Joses) were there, sitting opposite the door. Thus ends the first day, from sunset of Holy Thursday to sunset of Good Friday. On the 2nd day, from sunset of Good Friday to sunset of Holy Saturday, nothing happens. Jesus lies buried in the tomb. With the Blessed Mother, we wait at the tomb. It is the last day of Lent.

4. Our Apostles Creed tells us that after he was buried, "he descended into hell." Scripture calls the abode of the dead, "hell," "sheol" in Hebrew, "hades" in Greek. Jesus descended into the realms of the dead "as the Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 632; see 1 Pt. 3:18-19).

"The Gospel was preached even to the dead" (1 Pt. 4:6). He descended to the dead to free all the righteous souls who had died since the beginning of the world and allow them to reach heaven.

5. The 3rd day of the Easter Triduum begins at Sunset today, Holy Saturday. It is the apex of the Paschal Triduum, the holiest of all nights. It has the most beautiful and joyful litugy of the whole liturgical year, filled with powerful Scripture and beautiful liturgical traditions. It celebrates the story of salvation unfolding throughout history and the liturgy inspired by both the Old and New Testaments.