O Felix Culpa! He is Risen!

Rejoice heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,

radiant in the brightness of your King!

Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!

Darkness vanishes forever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!

The risen Savior shines upon you!

Let this place resound with joy,

echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

It is truly right

that with full hearts and minds and voices

we should praise the unseen God,

the all powerful Father,

and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,

and paid for us the price of Adam's sin

to our eternal Father!

This is our Passover feast,

when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,

whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night

when first you saved our fathers:

you freed the people of Israel from their slavery

and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night

when the pillar of fire

destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night

when Christians everywhere,

washed clean of sin

and freed from all defilement,

are restored to grace

and grow together in holiness.

This is the night

when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death

and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,

had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!

How boundless your merciful love!

To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,

which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,

chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:

"The night will be clear as day:

it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night

dispels all evil, washes guilt away,

restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;

it casts out hatred, brings us peace,

and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed

when heaven is wedded to earth

and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,

in the joy of this night

receive our evening sacrifice of praise,

your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,

a flame divided but undimmed,

a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven

and continue bravely burning

to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets

find this flame still burning:

Christ, that Morning Star,

who came back from the dead,

and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,

your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

The Church in Hopeful Mourning

The Lord's descent into hell

"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. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parents like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

`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 healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."

A reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday

Good Friday - Holy Saturday

I watched the Passion of the Christ last night, and this time I paid close attenion to Peter's denials and the treachery of Judas.

I saw myself reflected in both of them. Because I am treacherous in my attachment to sin, and I outright deny Christ, whom I promise repeatedly to serve. I have the adulterous, divided heart described in the book of Hosea.

But it was one particular scene that brought me to tears last night; the scene in which Judas strings up the rope and hangs himself violently.

He spent all that time with Jesus, the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity...and he didn't get it. He didn't understand. He hadn't been able to penetrate the mystery. He'd watched Jesus restore sight, heal the lame, and cast out demons. He watched all of this, apparently from afar.

Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him. He knew all about it. And still, he allowed it in order to save us all. And He loved Judas whom He claimed as one of His Own.

Indeed, Judas betrayed Christ, and became convicted by his own conscience. His eyes were opened and he realized how far he had fallen, what he had done.

Judas made his final choice; he chose to die rather than to be reconciled. He didn't understad it. He probably knew the scriptures well, and knew that over and over, they say that God does not spurn a contrite heart...ever. Never in the history of the Old Testament does God miss an opportunity for mercy. No matter what that person had done, or how many times; God always forgave.

God's justice was for the unrepentant.

Clearly, Judas was repentant, for he saw what he had done to his Lord. But instead of being willing to ask for mercy, he fled, and he chose to die by his own hand.

Jesus would have forgiven Judas. If Judas had chosen to follow Him, even to the cross, he would have seen the repentance, and he would have forgiven Judas in that very moment.

He would have forgiven the single most treacherous betrayal in the history of mankind...and His Mercy was rejected.

What a lesson for us all. What a lesson for me.

Here I sit, the blood of Christ on my own hands, and still, He will forgive me. Over and over again, no matter what act of betrayal I choose.

Today is Holy Saturday, and as our Beloved Savior symbolically sleeps in the tomb and searches the depths of Sheol for our first parents, we prepare our hearts and souls for the joy that arises out of such silent grief.

This is not the end; despair is not a word that belongs to Christianity. When the sun sets tonight, a new light will blaze forth, and we will all rejoice for our Savior who died so horribly in order to set us free.

O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem!

LORD JESUS, COME IN GLORY!

Holy Saturday

We are in a period of mourning, on our knees, joyful yet silent, waiting in hope, waiting in tears, waiting in gratitude for what our Saviour has done for us. We await and keep Vigil in prayer, preparing to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.

And just as Our Lady wept at the foot of the cross, so do we, but our tears differ, for we weep in repentence, in deep sorrow for our sins, the blood of the Lamb on our very hands. We weep for ourselves, for without our Savior, we would be lost and our suffering would be definitive, eternal separation from God. We weep for those who have chosen to reject the God who loves them so dearly, and we weep for our own inability to return His love fully to him.

And we hope in our Savior, we trust in our Savior, and we find joy even in our tears because we know that the Heavenly Father sees us through the wounds of His Son, who stood in our place and bore the justice which should have been meted out upon us.

It is through the Holy Spirit that we see and understand what Jesus has done, for in and of ourselves, we cannot grasp the immensity of his deed. Jesus dies not only in abandonment that we could not withstand, but also so he could send us a permanent companion to unite us in his Body; He sends us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

Holy Saturday is a day of mourning, but not so much for the Lord for we know he rose and released us from death; but rather,for our willful separation from Him. But because of His Sacrifice, we rejoice in the Triumph of the Cross, eagerly awaiting his light to return to the sanctuaries, waiting to be reborn again with him; we all await the Resurrection.

When I look upon the cross, I see the hand of God holding not just Jesus, but the entire world. I see the work of the Holy Spirit who brought me home and placed me at the foot of the cross next to the Blessed Mother. and today, I weep with her for she has withstood the sorrow of all sorrows and in her motherly embrace, we may all find the comfort we so require, and the path through her heart into the most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.

We will never understand our salvation without first understanding sorrow, which leads us to an understanding of the love that gave us the redemption.

Soul of Christ, Sanctify me.
Body of Christ, Save me.
Blood of Christ, Inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, Strengthen me.
Oh, good Jesus, hear me.
Within thy wounds, hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from thee
From the malicious enemy defend me.
In the hour of my death call me
and bid me come to thee
that with thy saints I may praise thee
for ever and ever. Amen.