The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, from the liturgy that closes the Triduum, the Easter Vigil, invite us to journey through salvation history from Creation to today.
The Easter Vigil 2024 Readings, for Year B, are presented with Psalm responses on the USCCB Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter web page.
Easter Vigil 2024 Readings, for Year B
The Gospel of Mark presents evidence of Jesus' Resurrection to the women who go to the tomb.
* [16:1–8] The purpose of this narrative is to show that the tomb is empty and that Jesus has been raised (Mk 16:6) and is going before you to Galilee (Mk 16:7) in fulfillment of Mk 14:28. The women find the tomb empty, and an angel stationed there announces to them what has happened. They are told to proclaim the news to Peter and the disciples in order to prepare them for a reunion with him. Mark’s composition of the gospel ends at Mk 16:8 with the women telling no one, because they were afraid. This abrupt termination causes some to believe that the original ending of this gospel may have been lost. (Mark, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB, n.d.)
Cindy Murphy McMahon comments that we have our own Holy Saturdays whenever events in our lives take an unexpected turn for the worse.
I’m writing this on the anniversary of my father’s death 16 years ago. Although he was ill and in the hospital, his death was sudden and raw. My mother’s death in a hospital 12 years prior was even more unexpected and shocking.
Feelings of chaos and loss ensued, but because of Jesus’ sacrifice, thanks be to God I also had assurance and peace that they were with God and I would see them again.
But sometimes we have to sit in the darkness of Holy Saturday for an indefinite amount of time and simply trust in an unknown outcome that is ultimately guided by God’s love. We recently had an electrical problem at our house and an electrician had to cut the power to the whole house to help solve the issue. Everything suddenly went quiet and dark. The symbolism struck me that when the power we thought we had is cut off, we can fret and moan, or we can choose to sit in the stillness and trust.
May the joy of Easter not totally remove the blessings that resting within our Holy Saturdays can bring. (Murphy McMahon, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “Christ destroyed death to bring us life,” from a sermon by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.
"God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf. The power of his death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying he submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ." (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 16:1-7 comments that Mary Magdalene and the other women were immersed in the “not yet.” They didn’t have the benefit of two thousand years of faith in the resurrection; they only knew that Jesus was dead. The horror of his crucifixion still fresh, they went expecting to find his dead body. “Who will roll back the stone for us?” they wondered (Mark 16:3). They couldn’t foresee that instead of a corpse, they would find an empty tomb. They couldn’t imagine that God would not only roll away the heavy stone, but he would also overpower the immovable weight of sin. They never dreamed that Jesus would trample death and resurrect their shattered faith.
Jesus did all of this and so much more. And he didn’t only do it for these women—he did it for us as well. By his death and resurrection, he conquered sin and death, doubt, and despair—for everyone. We are freed from the darkness of fear, where the “stones” in our lives appear impossible to move. In the light of the Easter candle, we can see clearly that Jesus has already demolished every obstacle that prevents us from knowing God. As an early Christian hymn proclaims, “The banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.”
So rejoice as you keep vigil with the women. Christ is risen! And you, too, will rise!
“Thank you, Jesus, for opening the treasures of heaven!” (Meditation on Mark 16:1-7, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler offers comments and insights on readings from the Hebrew and New Testament that are proclaimed during the Easter Vigil.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Author Kat Armas who reflects on the spiritual practice of lingering in the tension between winter and spring, the cross and resurrection.
The life and death of Jesus offers an invitation to sit in a sacred tension, but many are not comfortable doing this. We are a people hell-bent on fix-its, uncomfortable with struggle or with sadness. Perhaps this is why, for many of us, Holy Saturday has long been ignored. This is the day between the death of Christ on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. In the immigrant Catholic church I attended with abuela [grandma] growing up, this holy day of waiting was as important as Easter Sunday because it mirrored our reality—the constant push and pull between sorrow and joy, death and resurrection. On this day, we lit velas (candles) and sat in front of the altar for what felt like years. We knew joy would come, but there was no rush. The holy tension was a space in which we felt most alive. I didn’t know it back then, but la Espíritu Santa [Holy Spirit] was forming something sacred in me. (Rohr, n.d.)
The texts chosen for the Easter Vigil offer us the opportunity to contemplate the relationship between God and humanity in our salvation history as we wait to celebrate the Resurrection.
References
Mark, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 30, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/16?1
Meditation on Mark 16:1-7. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved March 30, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/03/30/926016/
Murphy McMahon, C. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved March 30, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/033024.html
Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Scapegoating Pattern: Weekly Summary. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved March 30, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-scapegoating-pattern-weekly-summary/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead? Daily Scripture net. Retrieved March 30, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=mar30a
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