Holy Saturday: Waiting Before the Sepulchre

Between the Eucharistic celebration of Holy Thursday and that of the Easter night, the Church does not celebrate the Eucharist. It relives the mystery of Jesus’ burial, when everything seems to be over. It is the day when Christ descends into the netherworld to reward the hope of the righteous ones of old, held captive by the chains of death. 

On Holy Saturday, the Church stands still before the Lord’s tomb, meditating on His Passion and death, awaiting the solemn Easter Vigil. On this day, there are no sacramental actions like on Holy Thursday, no veneration as on Good Friday, and no processions.

Holy Saturday is a day of reflection, in which the question Jesus Himself asked is renewed: “But you, who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15). For the first disciples, those words echoed like a warning, but they shattered against the harsh reality of the Cross and the death of the Teacher. And yet, they remembered what Jesus had told them — that the Son of Man must be killed, and on the third day rise again (cf. Lk 9:22).

At the same time, many had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, but couldn’t understand why the one they believed to be the Messiah had died in such an ignoble way. Was it really all over? In such a tragic way? This is the moment of faith.

The early Christians observed Holy Saturday as a day of total fasting — not penitential, but celebratory — because their waiting would soon end with the Resurrection. They contemplated Christ asleep in the tomb, who asks us to keep watch with Him. It is, for all, an opportunity to reflect on emptiness and absence.

If Good Friday is the “hour” of Christ, when He was consumed on the Cross for our sake, for the sins of all, then Holy Saturday is the “hour” of the Mother, in which Mary, Mother of the Church, torn by grief, lives the supreme test of faith and union with the Redeemer.