March 30, 2024, HOLY SATURDAY Read: Gn 1:1–2:2 Gn 22:1-18 Ex 14:15–15:1 Is 54: 5-14 Is 55: 1-11 Bar 3: 9-15, 32–4:4 Ez 36: 16-28 Rm 6: 3-11 Mk 16: 1-7 (Pss Prop)
The Church manifests a respectful sorrow for the death of the Lord. Today, the universal Church has no official liturgy. The Church symbolically dies with her Lord.
People all over the world today are seeking the pardon and forgiveness that Jesus won for us from the Father employing all that we have been recalling these last few days — Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.
“It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now that we have been justified by his blood, it is all the more certain that we shall be saved by him from God’s wrath.” (Rm 5:8-9)
This night we will gather in joyful anticipation to celebrate the most solemn Mass in the Church: The solemn Easter Vigil Liturgy.
The word vigil means ‘to watch, to wait, to be ready.’ We anticipate the Resurrection of Jesus, His passage from death to life — from slavery to freedom, in much the same way the Jews passed from Egyptian slavery to freedom in the Promised Land. Our resurrection is His marvelous gift offered us in His Resurrection.
There will be many Scripture texts read in tonight’s liturgy. They will serve to recall the path to salvation our people have followed for thousands of years.
“If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we hold out to the end we shall also reign with him.” (2 Tm 2:11)
Reflection and commentary
Psalm 118:22 “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
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