Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 30 March – Holy Saturday – The Lord’s Vigil Mass of Easter, Blessing of the Fire, Prophecies, Blessing of the Font, First Mass of Easter – Matthew 28,1-7 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“It was very necessary that Christ should rise during the night because , His Resurrection has enlightened our darkness! … ” St Augustine
“He is not here. For He is risen, as He said.” Matthew 28:6
LUMEN CHRISTI Deo Gratias!
The Night which Sets Us Free From the Sleep of Death
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
“Brethren, let us keep watch, for Christ remained in the tomb until this night. It was on this night that the Resurrection of His flesh took place. On the Cross it was the butt of mockery; today, Heaven and earth give it worship. This night already forms part of our Sunday. It was very necessary that Christ should rise during the night because, His Resurrection has enlightened our darkness! … Just as our faith, strengthened by Christ’s Resurrection, dispels all sleep, so this night, lightened by our vigils, is filled with brightness. With the Church throughout the earth, it causes us to hope we shall never be surprised during the night (Mk 13:33).
Amongst so many peoples whom this Feast – kept so solemnly everywhere – gathers together in the Name of Christ, the sun has gone down. Yet, day has not disappeared; the lights of Heaven have taken over from the lights of earth… He, Who has given us the glory of His Name (Ps 28:2) has also illumined this night. He to Whom we say “Thou lighten my darkness” (Ps 18:28) sheds His brightness in our hearts. Just as our dazzled eyes behold these shining torches, so our enlightened spirits enable us to see how luminous is this night, this holy night in which our Lord initiated, in His own flesh, the Life which knows neither sleep nor death!” – (2nd Sermon for the Easter Vigil; PLS 2, 549-552 – Sermon Morin Guelferbytanus 5).
Bl Libania of Busan St Martin of Pegli St Phlegon of Hyrcania St Redemptus of Ferentini
Martyrs of Africa – 3 Saints: A group of African Martyrs whose name appears on ancient lists but about whom nothing is known but their names – Januarius, Macaria and Maxima.
Martyrs of Antioch – 4 Saints: A group of Christians Martyred together for their faith. We know little more than their names – Diogene, Macario, Massimo and Timothy. They died in Antioch, Syria.
Holy Saturday (Vigil Mass of Easter) – 16 April – Matthew 28:1-7
“When Christ should appear, Who is your Life, then you also shall appear with Him, in glory.” – Colossians 3:4
“And at the end of the Sabbath, when it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre.”
Matthew 28:1
Ancient Christian Writer Anonymous (An excerpt from Homily on Holy Saturday)
The Lord Descends into Hell
SOMETHING STRANGE IS HAPPENING — there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept even since the world began. God has Died in the Flesh and hell trembles with fear!
HE HAS GONE TO SEARCH for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow, the captives Adam and Eve, He Who is both God and the Son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, the Weapon that had won Him the Victory. At the sight of Him, Adam, the first man He had created, struck His breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
I AM YOUR GOD, Who, for your sake, have become your Son! Out of love for you and for your descendants, I now by My Own Authority, command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness, to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the Life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in My image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in Me and I Am in you; together, we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
FOR YOUR SAKE I, your God, became your Son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, Whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden and I was Crucified in a garden.
SEE ON MY FACE the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in My Image. On My Back see the marks of the scourging I endured, to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See My Hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I SLEPT ON THE CROSS and a sword pierced My Side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My Side has healed the pain in yours. My Sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced Me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
RISE, LET US LEAVE THIS PLACE. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise but I will enthrone you in Heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life but see, I Who am Life itself, am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity!
St Benedict Joseph Labre – Known as the Beggar of Perpetual Adoration (1748-1783) Laqy Penitent and Pilgrim – he “abandoned his country, his parents and whatever is flattering in the world, to lead a new sort of life, a life most painful, most penitential, not in a wilderness, nor in a cloister but in the midst of the world, devoutly visiting as a pilgrim the famous places of Christian devotion.” Canonised by Pope Leo XIII on 8 December 1881. Dearest St Benedict Joseph: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/saint-of-the-day-16-april-st-benedict-joseph-labre/
St Lambert of Saragossa St Lambert of Saragossa St Magnus of Orkney (c 1075-1115) Layman Martyr
St Turibius of Astorga St Vaise St William Gnoffi
Martyrs of Avrillé – 26 Beati: – A group of lay people who were executed together for their faith during the anti-Christian persecutions of the French Revolution. They were martyred on 16 April 1794 at Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire, France. • Blessed Anne Maugrain, • Blessed François Micheneau veuve Gillot, • Blessed François Suhard veuve Ménard, • Blessed Jean Ménard, • Blessed Jeanne Gourdon veuve Moreau, • Blessed Jeanne Leduc épouse Paquier • Blessed Jeanne Onillon veuve Onillon, • Blessed Jeanne Thomas veuve Delaunay, • Blessed Madeleine Cady épouse Desvignes, • Blessed Madeleine Sallé épouse Havard • Blessed Marguerite Robin, • Blessed Marie Forestier • Blessed Marie Gingueneau veuve Coiffard, • Blessed Marie Lardeux, • Blessed Marie Piou épouse Supiot, • Blessed Marie Rechard, • Blessed Marie Roger veuve Chartier, • Blessed Marie-Genevieve Poulain de la Forestrie, • Blessed Marthe Poulain de la Forestrie, • Blessed Perrine Bourigault, • Blessed Perrine Laurent • Blessed Perrine Pottier épouse Turpault, • Blessed Pierre Delépine, • Blessed Renée Bourgeais veuve Juret, • Blessed Renée Rigault épouse Papin, • Blessed Renée Sechet veuve Davy. 16 April 1794 at Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire, France – Beatified: 19 February 1984 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
Martyrs of Corinth – 9 Saints: A group of nine Christians who were tortured and Martyred together in the persecutions of Decius. We know little more than three of their names – Callistus, Charisius and Leonide. They were thrown into the sea at Corinth, Greece c250.
Martyrs of Saragossa: Group of eighteen Martyrs murdered in 304 in Saragossa, Spain in the persecutions of Diocletian and the prefect Dacean. We know little more than the names – Apodemus, Caecilian, Caius, Crementius, Engratia, Eventius, Felix, Fronto, Gaius, Julia, Lambert, Lupercus, Martial, Optatus, Primitivus, Publius, Quintilian, Saturnius (4 men of this name), Succesus and Urban. Their graves re-discovered in 1389 in the crypt under the church of San Encrazia in Saragossa.
“By nothing else except the CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low. The sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to despise the things of this world, even death itself, the road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God and we made children and heirs of God. By the CROSS, all these things have been set aright… It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us, a raising up of those who lie fallen, a support for those who stand, a staff for the infirm, a crook for the shepherded, a guide for the wandering, a perfecting of the advanced, salvation for soul and body, a deflector, of all evils, a cause of all goods, a destruction of sin, a plant of resurrection and a tree of eternal life!”
One Minute Reflection – 3 April – Holy Saturday, The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night, Readings: First Reading: Genesis 1: 1 – 2: 2 or 1: 1, 26-31a, Psalm: Psalms 104: 1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35 Second Reading: Genesis 22: 1-18 or 22: 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, Gospel: Mark 16: 1-7
“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you” – Mark 1:7
REFLECTION – “Solomon says, there is a time for joy and a time for grief. Grief has departed, the time for joy has come, that true joy which proceeds from Christ’s Resurrection. … For you, the Victor rose from hell; He wore down the gates of brass and broke the bars of iron. He occupied hell’s fortresses and crushed the dragon’s head. He inflicted great slaughter upon His enemies and bound the prince of hell. He slew death and cast into chains, the author of death. … Then He brought back His own, from the darkness and broke their chains. He united with Himself, the souls of all the just, walking in the light of His Countenance and rejoicing in His Name. Raised high by His justice, were they, who were brought low, through injustice. For him: “I am alone until I pass over.” (cf. Ps 140[141]:10) Alone when He entered but by no means alone, as He went forth, for He brought back with Him, countless thousands of the saints. He fell to the earth and died, that He might bear much fruit. (Jn 12:24) He laid Himself down at seed time, that He might, at the harvest, gather the human race. … For at the baptismal font, dead to the sins within ourselves, we are born again to Christ through the cleansing of regeneration, that we may live to Him, Who died for all. So the Apostle Paul says: “As many of you as were baptised in ChristM have put on the person of Christ.” (Gal 3:27) Therefore, from one grain come many harvests. … Of Him also the Apostle says: “Therefore, God has exalted him and given him a name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth and of things under the earth.” (Phil 2:9-10) In truth, the knee of those in hell, bend before him in dread, the knee of those on earth, through self-interest, of those in heaven, through their blessedness.” – Saint Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159) Cistercian Monk, then Bishop – Homily VI on the Blessed Virgin Mary, SC 72 (Magnificat: Homilies in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, Whose only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the derad and rose from there to glory, grant that Your faithful people who were buried with Him in Baptism, may by His Resurrection, obtain eternal life. Lumen Christi …. Deo Gratias! Amen
Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday: “Watching” – The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night
On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on His suffering and death. The Altar is left bare and the Sacrifice of the Mass, is not celebrated. Only after the solemn Vigil during the night, held in anticipation of the Resurrection, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy which overflows into the following period of fifty days.
Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is sacred as the day of the Lord’s rest; it has been called the “Second Sabbath” after creation. The day is and should be the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function. Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns. After the great battle He is resting in peace but upon Him, we see the scars of intense suffering…The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible…J esus’ enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the very memory of the Lord by lies and slander.
Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit, that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart. When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.
The entire body of the Church is represented in Mary for she is the “credentium collectio universa” (Congregation for Divine Worship, Lettera circolare sulla preparazione e celebrazione delle feste pasquali, 73). Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord’s tomb, as she is represented in Christian tradition, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the Tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His Resurrection.
The pious exercise of the Ora di Maria is inspired by this intuition of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Church – while the Body of her Son lies in the Tomb and His soul has descended to the dead ,to announce liberation, from the shadow of darkness ,to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
Quote/s of the Day – 11 April – Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday –
Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
“Darkness is not dark for you and night shines as the day” (Ps 138:12)
“…He slept so that we might be awakened, He died so that we might live.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
In Praise of Christ
Born as a son, led forth as a lamb, sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man, He rose from the dead as a God, for He was by nature God and man.
He is all things: He judges and so He is Law, He teaches and so He is Wisdom, He saves and so He is Grace, He begets and so He is Father, He is begotten and so He is Son, He suffers and so He is Sacrifice, He is buried and so He is man, He rises again and so He is God. This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory for all ages.
“The Lord, though He was God, became man. He suffered for the sake of whose who suffer, He was bound for those in bonds, condemned for the guilty, buried for those who lie in the grave but He rose from the dead and cried aloud: “Who will contend with me? Let him confront me.” I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life, raised men from their graves. Who has anything to say against me? I, He said, am the Christ, I have destroyed death, triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot, bound the strong one and taken men up to the heights of heaven. I am the Christ. Come, then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your Ransom, your Life, your Resurrection, your Light, I am your Salvation and your King. I will bring you to the heights of heaven. With my own right hand I will raise you up and I will show you the eternal Father.”
– from a letter by Saint Melito of Sardis
Saint Melito, Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180) Early Church Father
Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday, The “Second Sabbath” – 11 April
Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is sacred as the day of the Lord’s rest. It has been called the “Second Sabbath” after creation.
The day is and should be, the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function.
Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns.
After the great battle He is resting in peace but upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering…
The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible…Jesus’ enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the very memory of the Lord by lies and slander.
Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart.
When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.
We are tempted to rush from Good Friday to Easter. Mother Church with wisdom, separates the two with Holy Saturday – a day of peace and rest – a day to quietly ponder and pray – a day to sit in silence at the tomb of Jesus. “What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence and stillness, a great silence, because the King sleeps, the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages.” We do not need words to express our misery. We need silence to ponder the mystery. Silence is the best expression of what is deepest in us, for silence alone, can express what words cannot.
According to tradition, the entire body of the Church is represented in Mary – she is the “credentium collectio universa” (the gathering of the universal Church) (Congregation for Divine Worship, Lettera circolare sulla preparazione e celebrazione delle feste pasquali, 73).
Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord’s tomb, as she is represented in Christian tradition, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His Resurrection.
The pious exercise of the Ora di Maria is inspired by this intuition of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Church – while the body of her Son lies in the tomb and His soul has descended to the dead to announce liberation, from the shadow of darkness to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on His suffering and death.
The altar is left bare and the sacrifice of the Mass is not celebrated.
Only after the solemn vigil during the night, held in anticipation of the Resurrection, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy that overflows into the following period of fifty days.
Bl George Gervase
St Godeberta of Noyon St Guthlac of Crowland (674–715) Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/11/saint-of-the-day-11-april-st-guthlac-674-715/
St Hildebrand of Saint-Gilles
St Isaac of Monteluco
Bl James of Africa
Bl John of Cupramontana
Bl Lanunio
St Machai
St Maedhog of Clonmore
Bl Mechthild of Lappion
Bl Paul of Africa
St Philip of Gortyna
St Raynerius Inclusus
St Sancha of Portugal
St Stephen of Saint-Gilles
Bl Symforian Ducki
Holy Week Thoughts – 20 April – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
“Darkness is not dark for you and night shines as the day” (Ps 138:12)
St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church
We who are mortal need to sleep to restore our strength and, therefore, we interrupt our lives with this image of death that yet leaves us at least some scraps of life. In the same way all those who live in chastity, innocence and fervour, prepare for themselves the life of angels, in exchange for this burden of death, they will receive grace in the eternal life… Now, my brothers, listen to these few words I want to tell you about this coming night that we are about to live through…
Our Lord Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead on the third day, no Christian doubts this. The Holy Gospels testify, that this event occurred during this night… It is not from light to darkness but from darkness to light that we struggle to emerge. The apostle Paul warns us: “The night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us throw off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light” (Rom 13:12)… Hence we will stay up on this night when the Lord was raised and began, in His flesh, that life of which I spoke to you before, the life that has no death nor sleep. And the flesh that He raised from the tomb, will not die again or fall any longer under the law of death.
The women who loved Him came at dawn to visit His tomb, instead of finding His body they heard the voice of angels announcing His resurrection. No doubt then. that He was raised on the night before this dawn. Thus He, whose resurrection we celebrate during our long vigils, will make us reign with Him in an everlasting life . And even if, while we were watching, His body were still in the tomb and had not yet been raised, our watching would still have all its meaning, since He slept so that we might be awakened, He died so that we might live.
Quote/s of the Day – 20 April – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
“We give glory to You, Lord, who raised up Your Cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. .. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed Your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.”
St Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Sursum corda” – lift up your hearts, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – “Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!” In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: “Conversi ad Dominum” – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down and inwardly we must raise them high,in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of His word and of the holy Sacraments, He points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards.”
Pope Benedict
22 March 2008
Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of Your love. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 20 April – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, Gospel: Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they went in, they did not find the body…Luke 24:1-3
REFLECTION – “Unlike the disciples, the women are present – just as they had been present as the Master breathed His last on the cross and then, with Joseph of Arimathea, as He was laid in the tomb. Two women who did not run away, who remained steadfast, who faced life as it is and who knew the bitter taste of injustice. If we try to imagine this scene, we can see in the faces of those women any number of other faces – the faces of mothers and grandmothers, of children and young people who bear the grievous burden of injustice and brutality. The faces of those women mirror many other faces too, including perhaps yours and mine. Once again, someone came to tell them: “Do not be afraid” but now adding: “He has been raised as he said!” Do not be afraid, brothers and sisters; he is risen as he said!”
In the resurrection, Christ rolled back the stone of the tomb but He wants also to break down all the walls, that keep us locked in our sterile pessimism, in our carefully constructed ivory towers that isolate us from life, in our compulsive need for security and in boundless ambition, that can make us compromise the dignity of others. Let us go, then. Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by this new dawn and by the newness that Christ alone can give. May we allow His tenderness and His love to guide our steps. May we allow the beating of His heart to quicken our faintness of heart.”…Pope Francis – Homily, Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, 15 April 2017
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, whose only-begotten Son, descended to the realm of the dead and rose from there in glory, grant that Your faithful people, who were buried with Him in Baptism, may, by His Resurrection, obtain eternal life. With Mary His Mother, who in her sorrow remained with Him at the Cross and by whose prayers we receive succour, grant that we too will be with Him in glory. Through Christ our Lord and Redeemer, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 31 March – Holy Saturday 2018
Sabbatum Sanctum By Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
I look at You, my Lord Jesus
and think of Your most holy Body
and I keep it before me,
as a pledge of my own resurrection.
Though I die, as die I certainly shall,
nevertheless, I shall not forever die,
for I shall rise again.
O You, who are the Truth,
I know and believe with my whole heart,
that this very flesh of mine will rise again.
I know, base and odious as it is at present,
that it will one day, if I be worthy,
be raised incorruptible
and altogether beautiful and glorious.
This I know,
this by Your grace,
I will ever keep before me.
Amen
Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday: “Watching” and The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night
On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on His suffering and death. The altar is left bare and the sacrifice of the Mass is not celebrated. Only after the solemn vigil during the night, held in anticipation of the resurrection, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy that overflows into the following period of fifty days.
Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is sacred as the day of the Lord’s rest; it has been called the “Second Sabbath” after creation. The day is and should be the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function. Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns. After the great battle He is resting in peace but upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering…The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible…Jesus’ enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the very memory of the Lord by lies and slander.
Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart. When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.
According to tradition, the entire body of the Church is represented in Mary: she is the “credentium collectio universa” (Congregation for Divine Worship, Lettera circolare sulla preparazione e celebrazione delle feste pasquali, 73). Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord’s tomb, as she is represented in Christian tradition, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His resurrection.
The pious exercise of the Ora di Maria is inspired by this intuition of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Church: while the body of her Son lays in the tomb and His soul has descended to the dead to announce liberation from the shadow of darkness to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
“This same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord . . . throughout every generation” (cf. Ex 12:42)
On this holy night we celebrate the Easter Vigil, the first — indeed the “mother” — of all vigils of the liturgical year. On this night, as is sung over and over again in the Preconio, we walk once more the path of humanity from creation to the culminating event of salvation, the death and resurrection of Christ.
The light of Him who “has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20) makes this memorable night, which is rightly considered the “heart” of the liturgical year, “bright as the day” (Ps 139:12). On this night the entire Church keeps watch and recalls, in meditation, the significant stages of God’s saving intervention in the universe.
“A night of watching kept to the Lord”. There is a twofold significance to this solemn Easter Vigil, so rich with symbols accompanied by an extraordinary abundance of biblical texts. On the one hand, it is the prayerful memory of the mirabilia Dei, in the re-presentation of key texts from the Sacred Scriptures, from creation to the sacrifice of Isaac, to the passage through the Red Sea, to the promise of the New Covenant.
On the other hand, this evocative vigil is the trusting expectation of the complete fulfilment of the ancient promises. The memory of God’s work reaches its climax in the resurrection of Christ and is projected onto the eschatological event of the parusia. We thus catch a glimpse, on this night of Passover, of the dawning of that day that never ends, the day of the Risen Christ, which inaugurates the new life, the “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Is 65:17; 66:22; Rev 21:1).
From its very beginnings, the Christian community placed the celebration of Baptism within the context of the Easter Vigil. Here too, on this night, some catechumens will be immersed with Jesus into his death to rise with Him to immortal life. Thus the wonder of the mysterious spiritual rebirth, wrought by the Holy Spirit, is renewed; the rebirth that incorporates the newly baptised into the people of the new and final Covenant, sealed by the death and resurrection of Christ.
Together with those who will shortly receive Baptism, the liturgy invites all of us here present to renew the promises of our own Baptism. The Lord asks us to renew the expression of our full obedience to Him and of our total dedication to the service of his Gospel.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters! If this mission may sometimes seem difficult, call to mind the words of the Risen Lord: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). Certain of His presence, you shall fear no difficulty and no obstacle. His word will enlighten you; His Body and His Blood will nourish you and sustain you on your daily journey to eternity.
At the side of each of you there will always be Mary, as she was present among the Apostles, frightened and confused at the time of trial. And with her faith she will show you, beyond the night of the world, the glorious dawn of the resurrection. Amen
AnaStpaul 
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