3 April 2010: Holy Saturday

Admire the providence of God in all these circumstances: in the new sepulchre, near where our Lord was crucified, hewn out of a rock as well as the sealing of the stone and placing a guard; the precautions taken by his enemies making it impossible even to approach him in his grave. Our Lord permitted it, to place the truth of his resurrection beyond dispute -- a truth which is the basis of his Gospel.

We believe in an ever-working Providence. We must not look on events in life as accidents; that despondency overpower us at beholding the temporary triumphs of impiety.

It was when the disciples of Jesus thought all was lost that their Master overcame the grave and confounded his enemies forever. Let us also avoid that melancholy which a funeral sometimes produces; but conquer it by the consoling thought of the resurrection, from which we shall pass, as did our Lord, from death unto life eternal.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp184-6

The Apostles beside Our Lady

The Body of Christ lay in the tomb. The world was in darkness; Mary, the only light still burning. “The Mother of Our Lord, my Mother, and the women who have followed the Master from Galilee, after taking careful note of everything also take their leave. Night falls.

“Now it is all over. The work of our Redemption has been accomplished. We are now children of God, because Jesus has died for us and his death has ransomed us. ‘... you and I have been bought at a great price.’ (1 Cor 6:20)

“We must bring into our own life, the life and death of Christ. We must die through mortification and penance, so that Christ may live in us through love. And then follow in the footsteps of Christ, with a zeal to co-redeem all mankind. We must give our life for others. ... the only way to live the life of Jesus Christ, to become one and the same with him.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, 14th Station)

We don’t know where the Apostles were that evening. Perhaps they were hovering around, disorientated and confused. We see them united once more on the Sunday (cf Lk 24:9) because on this Saturday or perhaps on Friday evening, they had turned to Our Lady. With her faith, hope and love, she protected the nascent Church, still weak and startled.

Thus was the Church born under the mantle of Mary. From the beginning she has been the ‘Comforter of the afflicted’, of those under pressure. This Saturday, when everyone fulfilled the festival day of rest ‘as the law required’ (Lk 23:56), was not a sad day for Our Lady. Her Son had stopped suffering. She serenely awaited the Resurrection. Thus, she did not go with the holy women to embalm the Body of Jesus.

“Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbour for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succour for those who implore.” (St John Damascene, “Homily on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary”) Beside her we live the immense joy of the Resurrection.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:291-2

The Cross Reveals All of Christ

Glory to you, Word of God!

This greeting is repeated day by day in the liturgy of Lent. It precedes the reading of the Gospel and testifies that the season of Lent is, in the Church, a period of particular ‘concentration on the word of God’. Such concentration was, especially in the early centuries, linked with preparation for Baptism on the night of the eve of Easter. The catechumens prepared themselves for that with increasing intensity.

However, it is not only in consideration of Baptism and the catechumenate that Lent raises us to such intense concentration on God’s Word. The need arises from the very nature of the liturgical period, that is, from the ‘depth of the Mystery’, which the Church enters from the beginning of Lent.

The mystery of God reaches the hearts and minds above all through God’s word. We are actually in the period of ‘initiation’ to Easter, the central mystery of Christ as well as of the faith and life of those who confess Him. Praise be to you, Word of God! This ‘word’ in the penultimate week of Lent becomes ‘particularly intense; dramatic’. The readings taken from St John’s Gospel bring this out.

When talking with the Pharisees, Christ says, ever more clearly, who He is, who sent Him; and His words do not meet with welcome.

Who are you? “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize ...” (Jn 8:28): you will know, you will find the answer to this question which you put to Me now, without trusting to the words I say to you.

‘Lifting up’ by means of the Cross ‘in a certain sense’ constitutes ‘the key to getting to know the whole truth’, which Christ proclaimed.

Ref: cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p155

Christ, Son of the Living God

We are here, we, your Church: the Body from your Body and from your Blood. We are here, we are keeping watch.

We are by your sepulchre. We keep watch. We remain awake, so as to be before those women who “at dawn will come to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared” (cf Lk 24:1) to anoint your body, in the tomb since the evening of the day before.

We keep watch in order to be near your tomb, before Peter, summoned by the words of the three women, comes too; before Peter sees only the wrappings ... We wish to be before the women and the Apostles ... We wish to be with you, we, your Church, the body from your body and from your blood shed on the Cross.

We are your Body, we are your People. We are many. We gather in many parts of the world. ... We are all united by the faith, born of your Easter, of your passage through death to new Life, the faith born of your Resurrection.

Ref: cf Pope John Paul II, op cit, p158

Apparition of Jesus to Mary and the Apostles eight days after the Resurrection. Date is based on original celebrated date of Easter, March 25. Mary's presence is textually unclear. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)

Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady and the apostles in the supper-room on the eighth day after his resurrection. — Balingham on Calend. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady and the Apostles in the upper room. (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)