Holy Saturday

Jubilee Holy Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope

April is the month dedicated to the Divine Mercy

The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens,

that He might fill all things.

DIVINE MERCY, SHIELDING US FROM THE FIRE OF HELL,

I TRUST IN YOU.

OUR LADY OF SORROWS,

SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,

PRAY FOR US.

Pilgrims of hope, we wait.

Something strange is happening-there is a great silence on the 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 ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

However, as the Lord takes Adam by the hand, He says ...

Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light ...

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, leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only person and we cannot be separated.

(From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday, in Office of Readings, Holy Saturday)

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. 

Pope Saint John Paul II offered this about Holy Saturday:

On Holy Saturday, the Church, once again, identifies herself with Mary: all her faith is gathered in her, the first believer. In the darkness that envelopes creation, she remains alone to keep the flame of faith alive, preparing to welcome the joyful and surprising announcement of the Resurrection. In memory of the Mother of the Lord, the Christian community on this aliturgical day is called to devote herself to silence and meditation, nourishing in expectation the blessed hope of a renewed encounter with the Lord.

(Pope Saint John Paul II, Wednesday General Audience, April 3, 1996)

Let us be silent this day and ask Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows to pray for us so that we, like her, be strengthened in our faith. 

Solitude can be very rewarding and full of blessing because in the silence of the inner being, 

one finds God.

(Venerable Fulton Sheen)

BLESSED JAMES OLDO,

SAINT ALPHEGE,

BLESSED ISNARD OF CHIAMPO, OP,

BLESSED SIBYLLINA BISCOSSI, OP,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: From the archives, February 6, 2023. Praise God in His holy place, praise Him in the mighty heavens. 

© Gertrude Feick 2025