Silence filled the earth in the forty hours between the death of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on the wood of the Holy Cross yesterday, Good Friday, and His glorious Resurrection at dawn on Easter Sunday. Silence filled the earth as the God-Man went down into Limbo to announce the news of His Redemptive Act to the souls of the just who had awaited His Coming and His Sacrifice in atonement for the sins of all men from the beginning until the end of time.
Given the state of the Church Militant on earth during this time of papal vacancy, some Catholics will be anticipating Our Lord’s Resurrection this morning. Others will be doing so this evening, No matter when the Easter Vigil is offered, however, we spend the first hours of this day (from Midnight until the Easter Vigil) continuing our prayers of gratitude as we mourn the death of Our Divine Redeemer by means of our sins.
Christ the King is the Light of the World. It is His light that is symbolized by the Easter fire that is lit at the beginning of the Easter Vigil. The Light of Christ breaks through the darkness of sin and eternal death, leading us by the fire of His bright, burning love as we continue our desert journey of life to the Promised Land of the New and Eternal Canaan made possible by His immolation on the wood of the Holy Cross yesterday, Good Friday. We must follow the Light of Christ as He, the New Moses, leads us as the first Moses led the Hebrew people as he followed a column of cloud during the day and a column of fire during the night, as we reminded once again during the Prophecies that are read during the Easter Vigil.
The Light of Christ, Our Crucified and Resurrected Saviour, will penetrate the souls of those who are baptized today and of those who are confirmed. It will penetrate the souls of those of us who were unable to receive Him in Holy Communion yesterday at the Mass of the Presanctified. It will penetrate the souls of those who are regenerated once again in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance. The Light of Christ that is symbolized by the Paschal Candle is meant to permeate every aspect of our lives without any exception at any time for any reason.
The Light of Christ has indeed broken through the darkness of sin and eternal death. Our Lord is making manifest His Easter Victory over the power of sin and eternal death. A fifty day period of glorious celebration is about to break upon us. Although the Easter Vigil is a long ceremony, eternity is forever. We can certainly spend five hours basking in the glories of the Sacred Liturgy that are, after all, a foretaste of eternal glories, can we not? The rewards are truly Heavenly, rewards that we could not have unless the Co-Eternal and Co-Equal Son obeyed His Heavenly Father out of love for him and out of love for us so that we could have access to the treasures of His Most Sacred Heart here through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
It is still too early to use the forbidden “A——a” word that we have not heard since before Septuagesima Sunday. However, it is not too early to look forward to its use prior to the proclamation of the Gospel during the Easter Vigil Mass.
A blessed Holy Saturday to you.
For those unable to get to a true offering of Holy Mass today, a listing of the services that will take place at Saint Jude Shrine in Stafford, Texas, for tonight and tomorrow can be found inside the text of this revised and re-titled reflection.
No original commentaries will be offered until Easter Monday, although it is my intention to revise and enrich the Easter Sunday meditation prior to its republication late tonight. I have paid zero attention to Jorge, other than knowing he uttered his usual stupidities about not wanting his presbyters to be concerned about “complex doctrines” and, of course, that he once again used the Maundy on Maundy Thursday to show forth his complete immersion in the ways of the one whose precursor he is, namely, Antichrist.
A blessed Holy Saturday to you all.
Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.