Holy Saturday Easter Vigil concludes the Triduum, the Sacred Paschal Mystery celebration which began on Holy Thursday. Two major events take place during the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil. We begin the ceremony with keeping vigil for the Lord who is in the tomb, and conclude with rejoicing in the Lord’s resurrection.
Before the advent of electricity, gas lights, kerosene lights, flash lights and so on, people who kept vigil made fire, sat around it and told stories. We do the same while keeping vigil for the Lord’s resurrection. We started with the ceremony of lighting the Holy Fire. The Holy Fire is lit while the entire place is in darkness to commemorate God’s creation of light on the earth which was without form or shape and enveloped in darkness. “Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated light from darkness” (Genesis 1:2-5). The ceremony of the Holy Fire and the Pascal Candle light is our prayer that God’s Holy Fire burns again in our dark world and dispels all forces of darkness; and that the light of Christ will light our way. We sing in the Exultet, “This is the night that the pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin;” and the Paschal Candle light “overcomes the darkness of this night.”
The Old and New Testament readings we have read remind us of our salvation history. Our salvation history goes back to the creation of the world, the fall of our first parents, the prophecies about Jesus, his coming, his passion, his death and now his resurrection.
We processed into the dark church building with lighted candles and followed the Paschal Candle. This a powerful symbol that we are followers of the Risen Lord who says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Soon, in this celebration, we will renew our baptismal promises in which we will renounce Satan and all his works. All these make us partakers in the Sacred Pascal Mystery. These deep and profound spiritual expressions are for our spiritual transformation; and may our Lenten journey, the Triduum, and the Easter celebrations bring us the spiritual transformation.
Our world is enveloped in the darkness of wars, violence, death, refugee crises, bad government, insecurity, fear, poverty, sickness, suffering, godlessness, human made and natural disasters, and so on. May the light of Christ penetrate into the hearts of perpetrators of evils in our world and bring them to repentance. Amen.
Our celebration continues in the morning when we will gather again to celebrate the Risen Lord.
Happy Easter!
Fr. Martin Eke, MSP
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