Holy Saturday: In Silence We Await

Holy Saturday (from Latin Sabbatum Sanctum) is sacred as the day that the Lord is asleep in silence. It commemorates the day that Jesus Christ's body lay in the tomb.

Also known as the Great Sabbath, Black Saturday, Easter Eve, Joyous Saturday, Saturday of Holy Week or the Saturday of Light, this should be the most calm and quiet day of the whole Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function. When all seems dark and grim and the only thing left to do is wait as Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns.

Holy Saturday is not only a day of loss, but also a day of quiet hope. "For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay" (Psalm 15).

Today's Daily Reflection:
As we meditate at the Lord's tomb today, let us see in that tomb all the children who have been killed by abortion. They are there. They share the suffering of death, which God Himself chose to share in order to destroy.
- Fr Frank Pavone

On this Holy Saturday, the final day of Lent, let our faith be made stronger; let us be more assured that sin and death are conquered; let us know a little more of the light through the sometimes impenetrable shadows. Whether the Harrowing of Hell is literal or figurative, corporeal or spiritual, it has a message for all of us today: the highest response to evil is to free people from it. Let us rejoice that our Redeemer lives.
- Archbishop Cranmer

Holy Saturday is the time to remember family and the faithful who have died as we await the Resurrection, or to honour the martyrs who have given their lives to the cause of Christ in the world. Holy Saturday is a time for reflection and waiting, a time of weeping that lasts for the night while awaiting the joy that comes at Easter.
- Unknown

Holy Saturday Prayer:

Merciful and everliving God, Creator of heaven and earth, the crucified body of your Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy day. Grant that we may await with him the dawning of the third day and rise in newness of life, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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