NOTES for Rom 6:3-11

Holy Saturday is the only day of the year for which there is no church service at all. As we remember, the sacrament of the Eucharist was not celebrated yesterday, but there was the Service of the Lord’s Passion. Today there is simply no service. The tabernacle is open. God has died; He is not there. Holy Saturday is a day of silence.

But in the evening the Easter liturgy will begin. All the readings appointed for today are already Easter readings. Holy Saturday is the mysterious time in which the victory over death takes place, the moment of passage from death to life. As an ancient homily for Holy Saturday says: “A great silence has covered the earth, a great silence and emptiness. Great silence, for the King has fallen asleep. The earth was afraid and grew still, for God slept in a human body in order to awaken those who had slept from of old. God died in the body and destroyed Hell. The sleep of My death brings you out of the sleep of Hell. Rise, let us go from here! Once Satan led you out of the land of paradise; now I bring you not into paradise, but to the throne of heaven. You have no access to the tree of life, but I, Life itself, give Myself to you”... By dying with Christ, we receive His life.