Daily Gospel for Saturday,
19 April 2014
“Simon Peter answered
him, ‘Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.’”—John 6:68
Holy Saturday - Easter
Vigil, solemnity - Year A
Feast of the Church:
Holy Saturday
The women saw how his body was laid; and they prepared
spices and ointments; and rested the
sabbath day according to the commandment.
Luke 23:55,56
Holy Saturday (in Latin,
Sabbatum Sanctum ), the 'day of the entombed Christ,' is the Lord's day of
rest, for on that day Christ's body lay in His tomb.
We recall the Apostle's
Creed which says "He descended unto the dead." It is a day of suspense between two worlds,
that of darkness, sin and death, and that of the Resurrection and the
restoration of the Light of the World.
For this reason no divine services are held until the Easter Vigil at
night.
This day between Good
Friday and Easter Day makes present to us the end of one world and the complete
newness of the era of salvation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.
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The Easter Vigil
Very early in the morning, they came unto the
sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had preparedand they found not the
body of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:1,3
The night vigil of
Easter signifies Christ's passage from the dead to the living by the the
liturgy which begins in darkness (sin, death) and is enlightened by the fire
and the candle representing Lumen Christithe Light of Christjust as the Church,
the Mystical Body of Christ, the community of believers, is led from spiritual
darkness to the light of His truth.
Christ's baptism, which
our own baptism imitates, is represented during the liturgy by the blessing of
the water of baptism by immersing (`burying') the candle representing His Body
into the font.
During the liturgy we
recall God's sparing of the Hebrews whose doors were marked with the blood of
the lamb; we are sprinkled with the blessed water by which we were cleansed
from original sin through Christ's sacrifice, and we repeat our baptismal vows,
renouncing Satan and all his works. We rejoice at Christ's bodily resurrection
from the darkness of the tomb; and we pray for our passage from death into
eternal life, from sin into grace, from the weariness and infirmity of old age
to the freshness and vigor of youth, from the anguish of the Cross to peace and
unity with God, and from this sinful world unto the Father in heaven.
The Water
The Easter Vigil
includes a blessing of water. The water is a sign of purification and of
baptism. Holy water, that is, water that has been ceremonially blessed is a
sacramental. Sacramentals are "sacred signs which bear a resemblace to the
sacraments[by which the faithful are] given access to the stream of divine
grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, and
resurrection of Christthe fountain from which all sacraments and sacramentals
draw their power." [Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 60. Second Vatican Council Documents]
Some other common
sacramentals are blessed palm (and the ashes used on Ash Wednesday made from
them), candles, medals, priestly blessings and other prayers. Water blessed during the Easter Vigil is used
for baptisms and other blessings. This water does not last the whole year, so
there is a special blessing for holy water used at other times of the year,
also. Traditionally the blessing of holy water includes an exorcism, or
protection against evil, and the addition of salt, a spiritual symbol of wisdom
which preserves our faith.
Catholic churches have
basins or `fonts' containing holy water near the entrance so that believers can
dip their fingers in it before making the sign of the cross as they enter the
House of God as a symbol of purification. This simple gesture reminds believers
of their consecration to Christ in baptism, and visibly indicates their
acceptance of the Catholic faith.
The Light of Christ
(Lumen Christi)
The Paschal candle
represents Christ, the Light of the World: "I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me walketh not in darkness" [John 8:12]. The pure
beeswax of which the candle is made represents the sinless Christ who was
formed in the womb of his Mother. The wick signifies his humanity, the flame,
his divine nature, both soul and body. Five grains of incense inserted into the
candle in the form of a cross recall the aromatic spices with which his Sacred
Body was prepared for the tomb, and of the five wounds in his hands, feet, and
side.
During the Easter Vigil
on Holy Saturday night the priest or deacon carries the candle in procession
into the dark church. A new fire, symbolizing our eternal life in Christ, is
kindled which lights the candle. The candle, representing Christ himself, is
blessed by the priest who then inscribes in it a cross, the first letters and
last of the Greek alphabet, (Alpha and Omega `the beginning and the end') and
the current year, as he chants the prayer below; then affixes the five grains
of incense. The Easter candle is the
largest and most beautiful in the Church. It is a reminder of the Risen
Redeemer "who shining in light left the tomb." It is lighted each day
during Mass throughout the Paschal season until Ascension Thursday.
Christ yesterday and today,
the Beginning and the End,
the Alpha and Omega.
His are the times and ages:
To Him be glory and dominion
Through all ages of eternity.
Amen
Women for Faith and
Family
Holy Saturday - Easter
Vigil, solemnity - Year A
Saints of the Day:
SAINT ELPHEGE
Archbishop, Martyr
(954-1012)
St. Elphege was born in
the year 954, of a noble Saxon family. He first became a monk in the monastery
of Deerhurst, near Tewkesbury, England, and afterwards lived as a hermit near
Bath, where he founded a community under the rule of St. Benedict, and became
its first abbot.
At thirty years of age
he was chosen Bishop of Winchester, and twenty-two years later he became
Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1011, when the Danes landed in Kent and took the
city of Canterbury, putting all to fire and sword, St. Elphege was captured and
carried off in the expectation of a large ransom. He was unwilling that his
ruined church and people should be put to such expense, and was kept in a
loathsome prison at Greenwich for seven months.
While so confined some
friends came and urged him to lay a tax upon his tenants to raise the sum
demanded for his ransom. "What reward can I hope for," said he,
"if I spend upon myself what belongs to the poor? Better give up to the
poor what is ours, than take from them the little which is their own." As
he still refused to give ransom, the enraged Danes fell upon him in a fury,
beat him with the blunt sides of their weapons, and bruised him with stones
until one, whom the Saint had baptized shortly before, put an end to his
sufferings by the blow of an axe.
He died on Easter
Saturday, April 19, 1012, his last words being a prayer for his murderers.
His body was first
buried in St. Paul's, London, but was afterwards translated to Canterbury by
King Canute. A church dedicated to St. Elphege still stands upon the place of
his martyrdom at Greenwich.
Lives of the Saints, by
Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Holy Saturday - Easter
Vigil, solemnity - Year A
Book of Exodus 14:
15 Yahweh said to Moses, “Why do you
cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. 16 Lift up
your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the
children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17
Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in
after them: and I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies,
over his chariots, and over his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians shall know that I am
Yahweh, when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and
over his horsemen.” 19 The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel,
moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and
stood behind them. 20 It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel;
and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and one
didn’t come near the other all night.
21 Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 The
children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the
waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. 23 The
Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the middle of the sea: all of
Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 In the morning watch,
Yahweh looked out on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of cloud,
and confused the Egyptian army. 25 He took off their chariot wheels, and they
drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from the face of
Israel, for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians!”
26 Yahweh said to Moses,
“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the
Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning
appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in
the middle of the sea. 28 The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the
horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There
remained not so much as one of them. 29 But the children of Israel walked on
dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their
right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus Yahweh saved Israel that day out of the
hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31
Israel saw the great work which Yahweh did to the Egyptians, and the people
feared Yahweh; and they believed in Yahweh, and in his servant Moses.
15:1a Then Moses and the
children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said,
Book of Exodus 15:1b
“I will sing to Yahweh, for he has
triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider he has thrown into
the sea.
2 Yah is my strength and
song.
He has become my salvation.
This is my God, and I
will praise him;
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 Yahweh is a man of
war.
Yahweh is his name.
4 He has cast Pharaoh’s
chariots and his army into the sea.
His chosen captains are sunk in the Red
Sea.
5 The deeps cover them.
They went down into the depths like a
stone.
6 Your right hand,
Yahweh, is glorious in power.
Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy
in pieces.
17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in
the mountain of your inheritance,
the place, Yahweh, which you have made for
yourself to dwell in;
the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have
established.
18 Yahweh shall reign
forever and ever.”
Letter to the Romans 6:
3 Or don’t you know that all we who
were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried
therefore with him through baptism to death, that just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness
of life. 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death,
we will also be part of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we
would no longer be in bondage to sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from
sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;
9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more
has dominion over him! 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time;
but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11 Thus consider yourselves also
to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint Matthew 28: Now after the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to
see the tomb. 2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord
descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and
sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 5 The angel
answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has
been crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come,
see the place where the Lord was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell his disciples,
‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there
you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
8 They departed quickly
from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9
As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”
They came and took hold
of his feet, and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to
them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers[a] that they should go into
Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 28:10 The
word for “brothers” here may be also correctly translated “brothers and
sisters” or “siblings.”
Holy Saturday - Easter
Vigil, solemnity - Year A
Commentary of the Day:
A Greek homily of the 4th century
On the holy Easter, §1 et 58f ; PG 59, 743 ; SC 27
(inspired by a lost homily of saint Hippolytus of Rome)
« This is the work of the Lord, a marvel in our eyes
» (Ps 117[118],23)
This is the hour when
the blessed light of Christ appears; the pure rays of the Spirit arise and
heaven opens up the treasures of divine glory. Night, vast and dim, is
swallowed up; thick darkness is scattered; death's sad shade is drowned in
shadow. Life breaks opens on all things and everything is filled with endless light.
The Dawn of dawns rises above the earth and “he who was begotten before the
daystar” (Ps 109[110],3), before the sun, immortal and immense, our great
Christ, shines on all things more than the sun.
A day of light, vast and
eternal, that nothing will extinguish, is commenced for us who believe: this is
the mystical pasch, celebrated in prefiguration by the Law, fulfilled in truth
by Christ, a magnificent pasch, wonder of God's might, work of his power, the
true feast, the everlasting memorial: freedom from all suffering is born of the
Passion, immortality is born from death, life is born from the tomb, healing is
born from the wound, recovery is born from the fall, ascension is born from the
descent to hell...
The women were the first
to see the risen one. Just as a woman was the first to bring sin into the world
so she was the first once again to bring the good news of life. And so they
hear these sacred words: “Women, rejoice!” (Mt 28,9 Gk) that original sadness
might be swallowed up in the joy of the resurrection...
Seeing so great a
mystery – a man rising and now with God – the powers of heaven cried out
joyfully to the angelic hosts: “O Princes, lift up your gates; grow higher,
ancient doors, and the King of glory will enter!” They saw the wonder, human
nature united to that of God, and called back in return: “Who is this King of
glory?” The others answered: “The Lord of host, the mighty, the valiant,
powerful in war, he is the King of glory” (Ps 23[24], 7f LXX).
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