Holy Week 2021 - Holy Saturday Morning Prayer - Death and Victory

 As soon as Jesus expired, “the veil of the Temple was torn in two…the earth quaked, the rocks were rent. And the graves were opened: and many bodies…arose,” so that those who were present were seized with a great fear and said: “Indeed this was the Son of God”. Jesus willed to die in complete disgrace, accepting to the very end the mocking challenges of the soldiers, “If you are Christ, save yourself”. But scarcely had He drawn his last breath, when His divinity revealed itself in such a powerful manner that it impressed even those who, up to that moment, had been jeering at Him. Christ’s death began to show itself for what it really was, that is, not a defeat, but a victory: the greatest victory that the world would ever witness, the victory over sin, the victory over death, which was the consequence of sin, the victory which restored to man the life of grace.

Today the Church observes a day of silence, for though his victory was revealed in many signs—the earthquake, the rending of the temple veil—the sacred Body of Jesus, after so many tortures and sufferings, was laid in a silent tomb. 

Together with Our Lady, who received the lacerated Body of her divine Son into her arms, let us draw near today to gaze upon the wounds, the bruises on his body, and his blood, all of which speak so eloquently of Jesus’ love for us. It is true that these wounds are no longer painful, but glorious; and tomorrow, at Easter dawn, we shall celebrate the great victory which they have won. 

Today, we recall, too, that tomb is also meant for us. We too must die with him, if we are to live with him, we too must be buried with him, if we are to rise with him. We, like the catechumens who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil, who will go down into the waters as Christ went down into the tomb, must bury the old sinful way of doing things and treating people, the earthly way, the way devoid of love of God and neighbor. 

May this Holy Saturday, a day of recollection on the sacred wounds of Christ and the Sacred Burial of Christ, prepare us for the glory of Easter Sunday, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Collect: All-powerful and ever-living God, your only Son went down among the dead and rose again in glory. In your goodness raise up your faithful people, buried with him in baptism, to be one with him in the everlasting life of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.