Keeping Vigil

Holy Saturday is an in-between day, a vigil day, as we keep watch at the tomb in anticipation of the resurrection. The Lord has been placed in the tomb, the tabernacles of our churches are empty, there remains a sense of desolation, but already, the hope of a new dawn brings to fulfillment the promises made by Jesus that "on the third day" he would rise, and bring to fruition the prophecy of Isaiah: ""When you make his life an offering for sin/ he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;/through him the will of the Lord shall prosper./ Out of his anguish he shall see light;/ he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge,/ the righteious one, my servant, shall make many righteous,/ and he shall bear their iniquities. /Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,/ and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;/ because he poured out himself to death,/ and was numbered with the transgressors;/ yet he bore the sin of many, / and made intercession for the transgressors." (Is 53: 10-12.) The grain of wheat has been planted and died, and later this evening, at the Easter Vigil, the glorious shoot shall sprout in everlasting life. Quiet reflection on the events of Good Friday during the morning and afternoon of this day, will help in the appreciation of the most dramatic of all liturgies tonight, with the lighting of the new fire and the Pascal Candle, the reading of the history of our salvation, the blessing of water, the baptisms of new members of the Church and our own renewal of our baptismal promises. This is the climax of our Lenten Journey, this is why the bells ring and the Alleluia is sung with such gusto. May we rise with Christ!