Holy Saturday invites us into the divine mystery of our Savior, Jesus Christ. During the day of Holy Saturday, we think about Jesus, lying dead in the tomb, as one day we will be. It’s not an easy thing to think about, which is probably why we don’t do it very often. It’s the thing that scares us the most and drives us to make bad decisions to amass power, wealth, and a sense of superiority to stave off the fear of death. Ultimately, death will find us no matter how rich or powerful we are.
Holy Saturday helps us see this reality of death. Yet the Great Vigil reminds us that while death will have a temporary hold on us, we will rise in Glory with Christ by virtue of our baptism.
During the vigil, on this Holy Night, Christians around the world assemble in the tomb-like darkness. In our tradition, the fire is lit in that darkness outside of the church, and it spreads through the congregation via candles, one coming alive after another.
Let us pray.
O God, through your Son you have bestowed upon your
people the brightness of your light: Sanctify this new fire, and
grant that in this Paschal feast we may so burn with heavenly
desires, that with pure minds we may attain to the festival of
everlasting light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 285)
of Christ,” is sung, and the people respond, “Thanks be to God.” We do this three times. The Paschal candle is set in its stand at the altar, and the Exsultet is sung recounting the importance of this night.
And, there, in the light of Christ, we read the scriptures that prepare us to celebrate God’s revelation. We hear various lessons from texts from the Hebrew Testament and then the Greek Testament wherein the greatest story ever told comes to life. It’s our story. This is the story of our salvation — how God prepared to rescue us from the power of sin and death. We remember our Creator God created us and led a chosen people out of slavery, and raised Jesus from death.
Blessings as we rejoice in the Good News of Everlasting life.+
