A Vigil of Faith and Hope

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are proclaimed at the Easter Vigil as we witness the presentation of the journey of our ancestors in the faith that leads to the fullness of life of the resurrection.

Light of Resurrection

Texts proclaimed on Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter!

Links to Texts	A Link to Friar Jude Commentary
Genesis 1:1-2:2	Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath “Creation three times”
Genesis 22:1-18	The Command to Sacrifice Isaac (binding of Isaac)
Exodus 14:15-15:1	The Pursuers Drowned The Song of Moses and Ancient Canticle
Isaiah 54:5-14	The Eternal Covenant of Peace
Isaiah 55:1-11	An Invitation to Abundant Life
Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4	In Praise of Wisdom restored in their hearts.
Ezekiel 36:16-28	The Renewal of Israel
Romans 6:3-11	Dying and Rising with Christ Die in Baptism and Rise with Him
Matthew 28:1-10	The Resurrection of Jesus Two “Mary’s” to the Tomb as Witness

Table 1. Easter Vigil 2026 Readings, for Year A

In Psalm 118, God’s rescue of His people is recounted.

* [Psalm 118] A thanksgiving liturgy accompanying a procession of the king and the people into the Temple precincts. After an invocation in the form of a litany (Ps 118:1–4), the psalmist (very likely speaking in the name of the community) describes how the people confidently implored God’s help (Ps 118:5–9) when hostile peoples threatened its life (Ps 118:10–14); vividly God’s rescue is recounted (Ps 118:15–18). Then follows a possible dialogue at the Temple gates between the priests and the psalmist as the latter enters to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice (Ps 118:19–25). Finally, the priests impart their blessing (Ps 118:26–27), and the psalmist sings in gratitude (Ps 118:28–29). (Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB, n.d.)

* [118:22] The stone the builders rejected: a proverb: what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The “stone” may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the Temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ (Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; cf. Is 28:16 and Rom 9:33; 1 Pt 2:7) (Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB, n.d.) 

Rev. Kent Beausoleil, SJ, declares Alleluia! for the excited faces on children as they hunt for brilliantly dyed Easter eggs tomorrow, Easter Sunday here in the United States.   Personally, I never understood what ham, dyed eggs, chocolate, and a bunny rabbit has to do with this day, and so, brunch and family and friend celebrations aside, but ALLELUIA most importantly for what is the reason for these celebrations.

A big alleluia for this day, when we celebrate once again the greatest celebration we can ever celebrate, Jesus, the one who came to save us has indeed risen from the dead.  Alleluia then for our life and our world, that because of his resurrection, we and the world stand changed and changed for the good by a divine love that lives on forever.  Now new beginnings are fragile moments filled with hope-filled expectation.  Our alleluias are indeed real this weekend, yes, they are, but our readings and our gospel call for tempered enthusiasm. (Beausoleil, n.d.)

Don Schwager shares a commentary on the Resurrection.

One thing is certain, if Jesus had not risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, we would never have heard of him. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and courage. The reality of the resurrection is the central fact of the Christian faith. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us "eyes of faith" to know him and the power of his resurrection. The greatest joy we can have is to encounter the living Lord and to know him personally. Do you celebrate the feast of Easter with joy and thanksgiving for the victory which Jesus has won for you over sin and death? (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us offers a Meditation on Matthew 28:1-10 that shares an excerpt from Pope Leo XIV’s catechesis on hope, in which he reflects on the silent vigil of Holy Saturday.

“In the tomb, Jesus, the living Word of the Father, is silent. But it is precisely in that silence that the new life begins to ferment. Like a seed in the ground, like the darkness before dawn. God is not afraid of the passing time because he is also the God of waiting. Thus, even our ‘useless’ time, that of pauses, emptiness, barren moments, can become the womb of resurrection. Every silence that is welcomed can be the premise of a new Word. Every suspended time can become a time of grace, if we offer it to God.

“Jesus, buried in the ground, . . . is the God who trusts, even when everything seems to be over. And we, on that suspended Sabbath, learn that we do not have to be in a hurry to rise again; first we must stay and welcome the silence, let ourselves be embraced by limitation. At times we seek quick answers, immediate solutions. But God works in depth, in the slow time of trust. The Sabbath of the burial thus becomes the womb from which the strength of an invincible light, that of Easter, can spring forth.

“Dear friends, Christian hope is not born in noise, but in the silence of an expectation filled with love. It is not the offspring of euphoria, but of trustful abandonment. . . . God loves to transfigure reality, making all things new with the fidelity of his love. True joy is born of indwelt expectation, of patient faith, of the hope that what has been lived in love will surely rise to eternal life.” (General Audience, September 17, 2025)

“Here I am, Lord, ready to rise with you.” (Meditation on Matthew 28:1-10, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler offers some comments summarized in Table 1 above.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Author Stephanie Duncan Smith who finds consolation in Holy Saturday, which affirms that the time between loss and new life is holy.

 The Paschal story holds the death of Good Friday and the silence of Holy Saturday before it breaks into the resurrection joy of Easter Sunday. This is the pattern into which we have been baptized, and there is no telling of the liturgical story that does not include this day of the brutal-in-between….

The human heart knows Holy Saturday, because the human heart knows vigilance—the keeping watch that happens when the body cannot choose between hope and fear. We know what it is to wait on edge for the relationship to repair, the addition to break, the body to heal, the clarity to come, the kids to get home safe. We know what it is to want in our waiting, and like the disciples, we wonder where God has gone.

Vigilance is holding in tension two dramatically different outcomes—one of life and one of death—knowing there is nothing you can do to control which way the story tilts…. (Rohr, n.d.)

We are present in this sacred liturgy with the people in our tradition who lived in relationship with God and who found the New Life offered by Christ as we proclaim “He is Risen”

References

Beausoleil, K. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved April 4, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-april-4-2026 

Meditation on Matthew 28:1-10. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved April 4, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/04/03/1531545/ 

Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 4, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/118? 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Jesus and the End of Scapegoating: Weekly Summary. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 4, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-and-the-end-of-scapegoating-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 4, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Triduum Passion and Love

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, in the second part of the Triduum, Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, invite us to be present with Jesus as the Christian community gathers to contemplate the love of God proclaimed on the Cross.

Shared Passion and Love

The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah presents the fourth oracle of the Suffering Servant.

* [52:13–53:12] The last of the “servant of the Lord” oracles (see note on 42:1–4). Taken together, these oracles depict a figure of one called by God for a vocation to Israel and the nations (42:4; 49:5–6); the servant’s exaltation both opens and closes the passage (52:13; 53:12). The servant responded in fidelity but has suffered opposition (50:4–6). In this fourth oracle the servant is characterized as “a man of suffering” (53:3) and appears to be unjustly put to death (53:8–9). Those who have witnessed his career somehow recognize that he is innocent, has undergone suffering for their sins (53:4–6), and his death is referred to as a reparation offering (see note on 53:10–11). The servant is described in ways that identify him with Israel (which is frequently referred to as “servant” in the context of Second Isaiah—e.g., 41:8, 9; 44:2, 21; 43:4) and is designated as “Israel” in 49:3; yet Israel outside the “servant of the Lord” oracles is not presented as sinless, but rather in exile because of sin (40:2; 42:21–25) and even as servant as deaf and blind (42:18–19). The servant is thus both identified with Israel and distinguished from it. As with the previous servant poems, this chapter helped the followers of Jesus to interpret his suffering, death, and resurrection; see especially the passion narratives. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 52 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 31 is a prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies.

* [Psalm 31] A lament (Ps 31:2–19) with a strong emphasis on trust (Ps 31:4, 6, 15–16), ending with an anticipatory thanksgiving (Ps 31:20–24). As is usual in laments, the affliction is couched in general terms. The psalmist feels overwhelmed by evil people but trusts in the “God of truth” (Ps 31:6). (Psalms, PSALM 31 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus is proclaimed the Great High Priest.

* [4:14–16] These verses, which return to the theme first sounded in Heb 2:16–3:1, serve as an introduction to the section that follows. The author here alone calls Jesus a great high priest (Heb 4:14), a designation used by Philo for the Logos; perhaps he does so in order to emphasize Jesus’ superiority over the Jewish high priest. He has been tested in every way, yet without sin (Heb 4:15); this indicates an acquaintance with the tradition of Jesus’ temptations, not only at the beginning (as in Mk 1:13) but throughout his public life (cf. Lk 22:28). Although the reign of the exalted Jesus is a theme that occurs elsewhere in Hebrews, and Jesus’ throne is mentioned in Heb 1:8, the throne of grace (Heb 4:16) refers to the throne of God. The similarity of Heb 4:16 to Heb 10:19–22 indicates that the author is thinking of our confident access to God, made possible by the priestly work of Jesus. (Hebrews, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of John presents the Passion Narrative from The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus to the Burial of Jesus.

* [19:14] Noon: Mk 15:25 has Jesus crucified “at the third hour,” which means either 9 A.M. or the period from 9 to 12. Noon, the time when, according to John, Jesus was sentenced to death, was the hour at which the priests began to slaughter Passover lambs in the temple; see Jn 1:29.

* [19:16] He handed him over to them to be crucified: in context this would seem to mean “handed him over to the chief priests.” Lk 23:25 has a similar ambiguity. There is a polemic tendency in the gospels to place the guilt of the crucifixion on the Jewish authorities and to exonerate the Romans from blame. But John later mentions the Roman soldiers (Jn 19:23), and it was to these soldiers that Pilate handed Jesus over.

* [19:17] Carrying the cross himself: a different picture from that of the synoptics, especially Lk 23:26 where Simon of Cyrene is made to carry the cross, walking behind Jesus. In John’s theology, Jesus remained in complete control and master of his destiny (cf. Jn 10:18). Place of the Skull: the Latin word for skull is Calvaria; hence “Calvary.” Golgotha is actually an Aramaic rather than a Hebrew word. (John, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB, n.d.)

Thomas Kelly, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Director of the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University, shares a reflection.

Don Schwager quotes quotes from a commentary “It Is Finished”

The Word Among Us offers a Meditation on Isaiah 52:13–53:12

Friar Jude Winkler offers some comments.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces “Jesus Forgives”