Andy Alexander, S.J. explains that on Good Friday, there was no Eucharist - simply a communion service, with the Body of Christ from the Holy Thursday Eucharist.
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| Anticipating the Light |
On Holy Saturday, there is no liturgy at all. The liturgy this evening is the vigil - the preparation for and entry into the celebration of Our Lord's Resurrection. It is an Easter Sunday liturgy. The texts and psalm responses for the the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter are outlined with some commentary below to facilitate preparation for the liturgy of the Word and Sacrament tonight.
USCCB Bible Genesis, chapter 1
* [1:1–2:3] This section, from the Priestly source, functions as an introduction, as ancient stories of the origin of the world (cosmogonies) often did. It introduces the primordial story (2:4–11:26), the stories of the ancestors (11:27–50:26), and indeed the whole Pentateuch. The chapter highlights the goodness of creation and the divine desire that human beings share in that goodness. God brings an orderly universe out of primordial chaos merely by uttering a word. In the literary structure of six days, the creation events in the first three days are related to those in the second three 1R. (30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.USCCB Bible Genesis, chapter 22* [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.”2R. (1) You are my inheritance, O Lord.USCCB Bible Exodus, chapter 14* [14:19] Angel of God: Hebrew mal’ak ha’elohim (Septuagint ho angelos tou theou) here refers not to an independent spiritual being but to God’s power at work in the world; corresponding to the column of cloud/fire, the expression more clearly preserves a sense of distance between God and God’s creatures. The two halves of the verse are parallel and may come from different narrative sources.3R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.USCCB Bible Isaiah, chapter 54* [54:10] Covenant of peace: this whole section, vv. 9–17, is given to various assurances of God’s love for Israel and of safety from various possible threats; the phrase sums up both the positive aspects of shalom, which implies a fullness of blessing, and protection from all that might harm. Cf. also 55:3; Nm 25:12; Ez 34:25; 37:26; Mal 2:5.4R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.USCCB Bible Isaiah, chapter 55* [55:1–3] The prophet invites all to return, under the figure of a banquet; cf. the covenant banquet in Ex 24:9–11 and wisdom’s banquet in Prv 9:1–6. The Lord’s covenant with David (2 Sm 7) is now to be extended beyond his dynasty.5R. (3) You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvationUSCCB Bible Baruch, chapter 3* [3:9–4:4] This poem in praise of personified Wisdom utilizes the theme of Jb 28 (where is wisdom to be found?) and it identifies wisdom and law, as in Sir 24:22–23.6R. (John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.USCCB Bible Ezekiel, chapter 36* [36:25–26] God’s initiative to cleanse Israel (cf. 24:13–14) is the first act in the creation of a new people, no longer disposed to repeating Israel’s wicked past (chap. 20). To make this restoration permanent, God replaces Israel’s rebellious and obdurate interiority (“heart of stone”) with an interiority (“heart of flesh”) susceptible to and animated by God’s intentions (“my spirit,” v. 27).7R. (3) You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.USCCB Bible Romans, chapter 6* [6:1–11] To defend the gospel against the charge that it promotes moral laxity (cf. Rom 3:5–8), Paul expresses himself in the typical style of spirited diatribe. God’s display of generosity or grace is not evoked by sin but, as stated in Rom 5:8 is the expression of God’s love, and this love pledges eternal life to all believers (Rom 5:21). Paul views the present conduct of the believers from the perspective of God’s completed salvation when the body is resurrected and directed totally by the holy Spirit. Through baptism believers share the death of Christ and thereby escape from the grip of sin. Through the resurrection of Christ the power to live anew becomes reality for them, but the fullness of participation in Christ’s resurrection still lies in the future. But life that is lived in dedication to God now is part and parcel of that future. Hence anyone who sincerely claims to be interested in that future will scarcely be able to say, “Let us sin so that grace may prosper” (cf. Rom 6:1).8USCCB Bible Luke, chapter 24* [24:1–53] The resurrection narrative in Luke consists of five sections: (1) the women at the empty tomb (Lk 23:56b–24:12); (2) the appearance to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Lk 24:13–35); (3) the appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem (Lk 24:36–43); (4) Jesus’ final instructions (Lk 24:44–49); (5) the ascension (Lk 24:50–53). In Luke, all the resurrection appearances take place in and around Jerusalem; moreover, they are all recounted as having taken place on Easter Sunday. A consistent theme throughout the narrative is that the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus were accomplished in fulfillment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes (Lk 24:19a, 21, 26–27, 44, 46). In his second volume, Acts, Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfillment of the hopes of Pharisaic Judaism and its logical development (see Acts 24:10–21).9
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shared earlier this week, that Jesus replaced the myth of redemptive violence with the truth of redemptive suffering. On the cross he showed us how to hold pain and let it transform us rather than project it elsewhere. I believe one of the greatest meanings of the crucifixion is the revelation of God’s presence in the midst of suffering. God suffers with us.
Even when we may feel alone and abandoned, as Jesus did on the cross—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)—we can trust that divine love is holding us. Thankfully, we know the end of the story from the beginning, that after death comes resurrection, after injustice comes liberation, after wounding comes healing. But we can’t skip over the darkness of the tomb.10
James Hanvey SJ, Lo Schiavo Chair in Catholic Social Thought, offers a reflection on Holy Saturday waiting.
Now the State, the Emperor, the President or the CEO performs the liturgy of their power in the spectacle of a systematic, calculated and carefully controlled death. It is meant to be public spectacle because it is meant to serve subjection through terror. Its purpose is not just to generate bodily compliance, but to colonise the imagination and the soul. This is not just the reduction of the will to impotence, but the rendition of being itself to the dark country of which death is only the threshold: the abyss of nothingness and the hell of living without life, of being only a property. We are allowed the illusion of our freedom; to get on with our lives and maybe even prosper, but only on the condition that we acknowledge the gods who can sacrifice us at will on the altar of death. 11
On this Holy Saturday, before the joy of Easter morning, befriend and be close to sorrow, whether your own suffering, that of a loved one, or the pain of creation. In this liminal space of waiting and the unknown, as poet David Whyte writes, let “the night put its arm around” you.
References
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(n.d.). Genesis, chapter 1 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/1
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(n.d.). Genesis, chapter 22 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22
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(n.d.). Exodus, chapter 14 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/exodus/14
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(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 54 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/54
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(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 55 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/55
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(n.d.). Baruch, chapter 3 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/baruch/3
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(n.d.). Ezekiel, chapter 36 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/36
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(n.d.). Romans, chapter 6 - usccb. Retrieved April 20, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/6
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(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: April 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved April 20, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/04/
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(2013, March 29). Holy Saturday: Waiting to cross over | Thinking Faith: The online .... Retrieved April 20, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20130329_1.htm
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