Holy Saturday is a day of silence. The whole Church keeps vigil at the Holy Sepulchre and meditates on the Mystery of Salvation.
The Great Sabbath is the day after death when the disciples are left with nothing but dashed hopes, emptiness, the unbearable pain of final separation, a mortal wound. Where is God? That is the mute question of the Great Sabbath.
Where is the God who intervened in Jesus' baptism by opening the heavens and saying: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mk 9:7)? Where is that God who revealed Himself on the high mountain at the hour of transfiguration with Moses and Elijah and cried out: "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him"? In the hour of the Cross He did not intervene, did not manifest Himself in any way, so Jesus felt Himself abandoned by the Father and exclaimed: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?". Now, a whole day has passed, and God has not intervened.....
But God has not abandoned Jesus, He has already called the Son to Himself; moreover, He has already raised Jesus in the Holy Spirit, and He has descended into hell to proclaim liberation there as well. "He descended into hell," we confess in the Creed. This is what happens in the hiddenness of Great Sabbath: the Father, through Jesus, brings salvation into hell. Jesus from the Cross was placed in the tomb and from there descended into hell, where the dead abide.
"Dear brothers and sisters, let us give the living Lord the main place in our lives. Let us ask Him for mercy so that we will not be swept away into the deep waters of the sea of problems; so that we will not crash on the rocks of sin and run aground in distrust and fear. Let us let Him seek us, and let us seek Him in all things. With Him we shall rise."
(Pope Francis, homily on Easter Eve 20.04.2019).
"Christ is risen! Truly risen! "
Today, March 30, at the Holy Mass of Easter Eve, the faithful in the Kuibyshev Catholic Church said these great words to each other and to the choir. In them is the hope of salvation and, perhaps, the personal hope of every person.
According to tradition, the service began with the lighting of a large Paschal candle in the half-lit church, from which all the parishioners lit their candles. The history of the world, told by the readers according to the words from the Bible in semi-darkness and the appearance of Jesus Christ on Earth, accompanied by turning on the lights in the temple, eloquently showed who is the Light of this world. The candles and lamps in the temple were very bright and warm.
The sermon of our rector Fr. Ditmar, the lighting of the water, the sprinkling of the faithful, the renewal of baptismal vows, the friendly singing of the parish song "He is risen! ", Holy Communion, the consecration of the parishioners' Easter baskets, one could say, flew by unnoticed. So many important things were packed into three hours of the most important church service of the year.
