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 Easter Vigil 2025

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to reflect on Salvation History with texts from the Hebrew and Christian Testaments as we make some time today to sit with all of the paradoxes of life.

Patient Pondering Paradox

The texts proclaimed at Easter Vigil 2025 are listed in Table 1.

Genesis 1:1-2:2	Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath
Genesis 22:1-18	The Command to Sacrifice Isaac
Exodus 14:15-15:1	The Pursuers Drowned The Song of Moses
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
Ezekiel 36:16-28	The Renewal of Israel
Romans 6:3-11	Dying and Rising with Christ
Luke 24:1-12	The Resurrection of Jesus

Table 1. Easter Vigil 2024 Readings, for Year C

* [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). 

* [24:6] He is not here, but he has been raised: this part of the verse is omitted in important representatives of the Western text tradition, but its presence in other text types and the slight difference in wording from Mt 28:6 and Mk 16:6 argue for its retention.

* [24:9] The women in this gospel do not flee from the tomb and tell no one, as in Mk 16:8 but return and tell the disciples about their experience. The initial reaction to the testimony of the women is disbelief (Lk 24:11).

* [24:12] This verse is missing from the Western textual tradition but is found in the best and oldest manuscripts of other text types. (Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB, n.d.)

Cindy Costanzo comments that Holy Saturday is a day for quiet reflective time.

Today’s Holy Saturday experience brings me back to my walk during my retreat as well as a recent walk during Lent. The walk allows you to enter this time with some sense of the time, the setting, the cruelty of mankind, and the immense gratitude for how Jesus suffered for us, so we could have our sins forgiven, and the enormous gift received from our God for eternal life. 

I pray this Holy Saturday to receive the gift gratefully. To continue to follow Jesus’s ways, to remain humble, repent, and follow the commandments although imperfectly. I celebrate these gifts and hope in return to be transformative to others in offering my love. (Costanzo, 2025)

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 Romans 6:3-11 comments that the death and resurrection of Christ is not something we just read about or reflect on. We are not just spectators; we are participants in this great cosmic drama. Through the power of the cross, Jesus has put our sins to death. Through the power of his resurrection, he has made us new creations, capable of living a life pleasing to his Father. In and through Christ, we, too, have experienced a resurrection that began at our Baptism and will be fully realized when Christ comes again.

This cycle of our dying and rising with Christ doesn’t begin and end with Lent and Easter. It characterizes our whole life on earth. As long as we live, we will have to die to sin. But we live in Christ! His light casts out the darkness and infuses us with grace and mercy so we also can rise with him. Hallelujah!

“Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying and rising for me! Help me to live the new life you have won for me, at Easter and always.” (Meditation on Romans 6:3-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler shares comments on the texts proclaimed at the Easter Vigil

Genesis 1:1-2:2	Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath	Priestly Account of Creation Everything created is GOOD.Babylonian ideas of separation. Humans superlative created. (3 mentions in Hebrew)
Genesis 22:1-18	The Command to Sacrifice Isaac	Binding of Isaac. Abraham shows great faith and love of son. Promises many descendants.
Exodus 14:15-15:1	The Pursuers Drowned The Song of Moses	The Exodus from Egypt at the Red Sea followed by Canticle from about 1300 BCE.
Isaiah 54:5-14	The Eternal Covenant of Peace	God has taken back His Punishment. Like in Noah
Isaiah 55:1-11	An Invitation to Abundant Life	God is going to make a Covenant
Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4	In Praise of Wisdom	Author: Fear of God: Wisdom by following the Law
Ezekiel 36:16-28	The Renewal of Israel	All the people brought to Israel a Covenant written on their hearts. A Spiritual blessing of Laws
Romans 6:3-11	Dying and Rising with Christ	Die with Christ at Baptism and dying to sin we have to live as if we have already risen
Luke 24:1-12	The Resurrection of Jesus	One of three accounts of the Resurrection in Luke. A number of women, three named. Stone moved and two men in white, the power of the Resurrection, Run to tell Peter.

Easter Vigil 2024 Readings, for Year C Comments

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Spiritual teacher Christine Valters Paintner who invites us to the patience necessary to receive the wisdom of Holy Saturday. The Triduum, those three sacred days of unfolding liturgy, calls us to experience communion, loss, and the border spaces of unknowing. Holy Saturday is an invitation to make a conscious passage through the liminal realm of in-between.

The wisdom of the Triduum is that we must be fully present to both the starkness of Friday and the Saturday space between before we can really experience the Resurrection. We must know the terrible experience of loss wrought in our world. This pain can teach us more when the promise of new life dawns, and we will appreciate its light because we know the darkness….  

Much of our lives are spent in Holy Saturday places but we spend so much energy resisting, longing for resolution and closure. Our practice this day is to really enter into the liminal zone, to be present to it with every cell of our being. 

Make some time today to sit with all of the paradoxes of life. Bring yourself fully present so you can live in the discomfort of the experience. Rest in the space of waiting, and resist trying to come up with neat answers or resolutions. Imagine yourself on a wild border or standing on a threshold. See yourself knowing that you cannot fully embrace what is on the other side until you have let this place form in your heart. When you notice your attention drifting or your mind starting to analyze, return to the present moment. Allow yourself to feel whatever arises in this space. Honor the mystery. (Rohr, n.d.)

We keep vigil and seek the Wisdom and Perseverance of the Spirit to live as people of the Resurrection.

References

Costanzo, C. (2025, April 19). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/041925.html 

Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/24?1 

Meditation on Romans 6:3-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/04/19/1250959/ 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Loving Surrender: Weekly Summary. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/loving-surrender-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 19, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=apr19a