Easter Vigil
Dear Epiphany of the Easter Vigil
Sabbatum Sanctum
Today the Earth Holds its Breath, Heaven Waits in Hope, and Love Lies Wrapped in Linen: But Dawn is Coming
Holy Saturday: The Great Easter Vigil: Luke 24: 1-10, (19 April 2025)
The Lord’s Descent into Hell
“What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence 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. 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. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. (From an Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday)
Dear parishioners, it is as if with the death of our Lord, everything stops. There is a flurry of preparation in the short time between his death and the start of the Sabbath: Joseph of Arimathea wraps the body of Jesus carefully and lays it in a new tomb not far from the cross.
Jesus is silent on Saturday. The women have anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb. The cadaver of Christ is as mute as the stone which guards it. He spoke much on Friday. He will liberate the slaves of death on Sunday. But on Saturday, Jesus is silent.
So is God. He made himself heard on Friday. He tore the curtains of the temple, opened the graves of the dead, rocked the earth, blocked the sun of the sky, and sacrificed the Son of Heaven. Earth heard much of God on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Jesus is silent. God is silent. Saturday is silent.
Silent Saturdays. The day between the struggle and the solution; the question and the answer; the offered prayer and the answer thereof. Saturday’s silence torments us. Is God angry? Did I disappoint him? God knows Jesus is in the tomb, why does not He do something? Or, in your case God knows your career is in the tank, your finances are in the pit, your marriage is in a mess. Why does not He act? What are you supposed to do until He does? You do what Jesus did. Lie still. Stay silent. Trust God. Jesus died with this conviction: “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Acts 2:27).
Jesus knew God would not leave him alone in the grave. You need to know, God will not leave you alone with your struggles. His silence is not his absence, inactivity is never apathy. Saturdays have their purpose. They let us feel the full force of God’s strength. Had God raised Jesus fifteen minutes after the death of His son, would we have appreciated the act? Were He to solve your problems the second they appear; would you appreciate His strength?
According to Pope Benedict XVI, Holy Saturday, which commemorates the time when Jesus Christ was buried on the eve of his resurrection on Easter Sunday, is an occasion of “divine darkness” that speaks to our conscience and calls into question the foundations of Christianity. Today, the Church stands still. The altar is bare, the tabernacle is empty, and no Mass is celebrated. This is the only day in the liturgical year when the Church refrains from the sacrifice of the Eucharist. Why? Because Christ has died. And now… we wait!
Holy Saturday is a day of sacred silence. The great drama of salvation has not yet reached its crescendo. The Cross is behind us, the tomb is before us, and heaven itself seems hushed. The Apostles are scattered. Mary weeps in sorrow. And the body of Jesus lies lifeless in the earth He came to save.
But this silence is not abandonment: it is the silence before glory. It is the silence of the seed buried in the ground, as Jesus foretold: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24).
Holy Saturday is the theological hinge between death and resurrection. It is the day of descent-as the Creed proclaims: “He descended into hell.” Not the hell of damnation, but Sheol, the realm of the dead. Christ enters the silence of death to proclaim victory even there. The ancient homily for Holy Saturday captures it beautifully: “He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep… to free from sorrow Adam and Eve, who were captives.”
Christ goes to the very depths to redeem what was lost. He does not skip the valley of the shadow of death-He sanctifies it. He goes before us, even there, so that there is no place we can go that His light cannot reach. So what are we to do on this day? We wait, like the women who kept the Sabbath after His death. We ponder, like Mary who held all things in her heart. We prepare, like the Church, who will soon rejoice in new life at the Vigil.
This is a day of tension between what seems to be and what is to come. Let us not rush too quickly to Easter. Let Holy Saturday teach us the sacredness of waiting. For many of us, this space-between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday-is where we live much of our lives: in the unknown, in the in-between, in silence. But take heart: even here, God is working. Resurrection does not erase death-it transforms it. And so we wait, with hope that does not disappoint. May the silence of this day deepen our longing, and may our hearts be ready to receive the joy that dawn brings.
On Holy Saturday, Mary Magdalene waits. She is not mentioned in the liturgies of this day, but her presence is everywhere in the Gospels. She was there on Calvary, standing near the cross when most had fled. She saw where they laid His body. And she kept the Sabbath, keeping vigil in grief and love. Her waiting was not passive. It was love that refused to walk away, love that stayed even when hope seemed buried. And that love becomes the doorway to resurrection.
It is Mary Magdalene who rises early, while it is still dark, to go to the tomb. She goes not because she expects resurrection-but because she wants to be near Him. And it is to her, not to Peter or John, not to kings or scholars, but to Mary, that the Risen Jesus first appears. Her name is the first one spoken in the new world of Easter. She becomes the “apostle to the apostles,” sent to tell the others: “I have seen the Lord!”
Mary Magdalene teaches us something vital on this Holy Night: those who wait with love will be the first to see the dawn. She teaches us that resurrection does not come to the powerful, but to the faithful: to those who do not run away from the cross and to those who love Jesus more than they fear the dark.
Mary Magdalene and the other women come to the tomb early in the morning on the third day. As they approach the burial place, they see that the stone has already been removed. They are told by two individuals (messengers = angels) dressed in dazzling garments: “the Lord Whom you seek is not among the dead, but that He is alive,” and He seeks to be in further relationship with His followers. They are to go and announce this message to His disciples. These women become the first to announce and experience that Jesus is alive, restoring relationship with God. Alleluia! Although the women announce the message to the apostles, the apostles do not believe. Peter runs to the tomb and finds it empty, except for the burial cloths.
Dear Epiphany, as we keep vigil tonight, as we listen to the stories of salvation and watch the light grow brighter, may we walk the path of Mary Magdalene-through grief, through faith, into resurrection. May we carry her fire of love in our hearts. And when the Lord calls our name, may we recognize Him-not only in the garden, but in every moment of light that breaks through our darkness:
Holy Saturday-a Sacred Pause. The Silence of the Tomb teaches us to Trust in the Quiet Work of God!
They laid Him in a Tomb… and rested! (Luke 23:53–56)
Even in Death, Christ sanctified the Silence. On this Holy Saturday, we Wait with Hope!
Hope sleeps. Faith waits. Love is not done!
Holy Saturday: The Silence of the Tomb, the Hope of Resurrection!
Fraternally,
Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC, Pastor