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APRIL 4 Holy Saturday
Isaiah, Chapter 12,
Verse 2-4
God indeed is my salvation; I am confident and UNAFRAID. For the LORD is my strength and my might, and he has been
my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the fountains of salvation, And
you will say on that day: give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; Among the
nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.
Indeed, the birth of Christ is the beginning of the salvation of his people, when on Christmas morning the virgin gave him birth and he is born the angels proclaim His victory over death. Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
He has torn down the
barricades of hell and overthrown the power of Satan. Tomorrow our Savior
shattered the bars and burst the gates of death.
✝️ Copilot’s Take
Isaiah’s proclamation — “God indeed is my
salvation; I am confident and unafraid” — is the Old Testament announcing the
logic of Easter before the stone is rolled away. The Catechism teaches that
salvation is not merely rescue but God’s definitive victory over sin, fear, and
death (CCC 457–460). Isaiah speaks as one who has already glimpsed that
victory. Fear collapses when salvation is not an idea but a Person. Confidence
rises when the Lord Himself becomes strength, song, and might. The fountains of
salvation he promises are the very waters Christ will open in His Passion.
The birth of Christ is the moment this prophecy
becomes flesh. Christmas morning is not sentimental; it is strategic. The Child
is born already carrying the mission of the Cross. The angels proclaim peace
because the war has already turned. The Blood of Christ — “without which there
is no forgiveness” — is the price of that peace, the fountain from which
Isaiah’s promised waters will flow. The Catechism calls the Incarnation the
“marvelous exchange” (CCC 460): God enters our fear so that we may enter His life.
Holy Saturday reveals the next movement of this
victory. The Catechism teaches that Christ descended into death to shatter the
ancient prison and “open heaven’s gates” (CCC 635). Good Friday speaks with clarity:
He has torn down the barricades of hell and overthrown the power of Satan.
The Resurrection is not a gentle rising; it is a cosmic jailbreak. The bars are
broken. The gates are burst. The captor is disarmed. Fear survives only where
lies survive — and the Resurrection exposes every lie.
This is where the Upright Man of the Shroud
enters the story. The Shroud does not show a body slumped in defeat; it shows a
man already rising. The image is straight, composed, and regal — the posture of
someone who has already stood. It is the first icon of the restored Adam, the
human being fully alive. Every sin bends a person downward — toward fear,
shame, and the earth that claims him. Every grace lifts him upward — toward
courage, mercy, and the God who calls him by name. The Shroud captures the instant
when humanity stands again.
Isaiah’s promise, Christ’s birth, His descent
into death, and the Upright Man of the Shroud all converge into one truth:
salvation is the end of fear. The Resurrection is not only Christ’s vindication
— it is the restoration of the human heart. The upright posture of the Shroud
is the blueprint of your destiny. The empty tomb is the guarantee that what
happened to Him will happen to all who belong to Him. Tomorrow the bars
shatter. Tomorrow the gates fall. Tomorrow the prophecy becomes visible: God
indeed is my salvation; I am confident and unafraid.
Holy Saturday[1] 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
Although we are still in mourning, there is much
preparation during this day to prepare for Easter. Out of the kitchen comes the
smells of Easter pastries and bread, the lamb or hams and of course, the Easter
eggs.
There are no liturgies celebrated this day,
unless the local parish priest blesses the food baskets. In Slavic countries
there is a blessing of the traditional Easter foods, prepared in baskets: eggs,
ham, lamb and sausages, butter and cheeses, horseradish and salt and the Easter
breads. The Easter blessings of food owe their origin to the fact that these
particular foods, namely, fleshmeat and milk products, including eggs, were
forbidden in the Middle Ages during the Lenten fast and abstinence. When the feast
of Easter brought the rigorous fast to an end, and these foods were again
allowed at table, the people showed their joy and gratitude by first taking the
food to church for a blessing. Moreover, they hoped that the Church's blessing
on such edibles would prove a remedy for whatever harmful effects the body
might have suffered from the long period of self-denial. Today the Easter
blessings of food are still held in many churches in the United States,
especially in Slavic parishes.
If there is no blessing for the Easter foods in
the parish, the father of the family can pray the Blessing over the Easter foods.
It is during the night between Holy Saturday and
Easter Sunday that the Easter Vigil is celebrated. The service begins around
ten o'clock, in order that the solemn vigil Mass may start at midnight.
Activities
·
Today we remember Christ in the tomb. It is not
Easter yet, so it's not time for celebration. The day is usually spent working
on the final preparations for the biggest feast of the Church year. The list of
suggested activities is long, but highlights are decorating Easter eggs and
attending a special Easter food blessing.
·
For families with smaller children, you could
create a miniature Easter Garden, with a tomb. The figure of the risen Christ
will be placed in the garden on Easter morning.
·
Another activity for families is creation of a
paschal candle to use at home.
·
The Directory on Popular Piety discusses some of the various devotions related
to Easter, including the Blessing of the Family Table, Annual Blessing of
Family Home, the Via Lucis and the Visit to the Mother of the Risen Christ.
Holy
Saturday Vigil [2]
We should have during the morning and afternoon, a mournful remembrance of our Lord in the tomb.
Prayer. GOD! Who makest this most sacred night illustrious by the glory of the resurrection of Our Lord, preserve in the new offspring of Thy family the spirit of adoption which Thou hast given them; that, being renewed in body and soul, they may serve Thee with purity of heart.
EPISTLE. Colons, iii. 1-4.
Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, Who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory.
GOSPEL. Matt, xxviii. 1-7.
In the end of the Sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulcher. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven: and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him the guards were struck with terror and became as dead men. And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye His disciples that He is risen and behold He will go before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him. Lo, I have foretold it to you.
Why is this day called Holy Saturday?
Because Jesus Christ, the Holy of holies, on this day rested in the grave, and because on this day the new fire and the baptismal water are blessed.
What is the new fire?
It is the fire caught from the sparks of a flint, and then blessed by the priest, from which afterwards the candles and lamps in the church are lighted.
Why is this done, and what does it signify?
The fire is first caught from a flint to indicate that Christ, the light of the world, though rejected by the Jews, is the real corner-stone, and, though seemingly extinguished in the grave, arose gloriously and sheds the beams of His blessed light on the world.
What is signified by the three candles, or triple candlestick?
The Most Holy Trinity, one in the divine nature, but three in person.
Why are all the candles of the church lighted from the triple candle?
To signify that all enlightening comes from the Most Holy Trinity.
What does the paschal or Easter candle signify?
It represents Jesus Christ, Who died, but rose again, and now lives forever, the light of the world, giving light to all, and delivering us from the darkness of sin. The wax signifies His body, the wick His soul, the light His divinity. The five holes in the Easter candle, in the form of a cross, represent the five holy wounds which Christ retains for our consolation. The five grains of incense inserted therein signify the spices used in embalming the corpse of Our Savior.
What is the signification of the ceremonies used in blessing the baptismal water?
They signify the different effects of Baptism.
Why does the priest pour out the baptismal water towards each of the four quarters of the globe?
To indicate that as the four streams went forth from paradise to water the earth, so also, according to the command of Christ, shall the stream of grace, through holy Baptism, flow to all parts of the world for the washing away of sin.
What does it mean when the priest breathes three times upon the water?
The breathing upon the water denotes the communication of the Holy Ghost.
What does it mean when the priest dips the Easter candle thrice into the baptismal water?
The immersion and withdrawal of the candle from the water denote that it is sanctified by Christ to be a means through which the baptized are drawn out of the abyss of sin.
What is the meaning of the mixing of the holy oils with the consecrated water?
The holy oils are mixed with the consecrated water partly to indicate the union of Christ with His people, and partly also to denote that the grace of the Holy Ghost, of which the holy oil and chrism are figures, together with faith, hope, and charity, is infused into the heart of the catechumen.
· ~No Christian should forget to-day to revisit the holy sepulcher, to thank Jesus for His passion and death, and to venerate the sorrowful Mother Mary.
Holy Water[3]
We begin in water; our human form in the amniotic
sac, “bag of waters”, in the womb. In the order of nature birth begins when a
mothers “water breaks.” So, with water we begin our visits to church and we dip
a hand into the holy water font and bless ourselves. When the world was lost to
sin and needed cleansing and rebirth, God sent a great flood, and from the
flood the family of Noah found new life. When Israel emerged from slavery as a
unified nation, it first had to pass through the waters of the Red Sea. Though
babies had always been born through “water,” now grown men and women could be
“born of water and the Holy Spirit.” The Church Fathers taught that Jesus, by
descending into the waters of the River Jordan, had sanctified the waters of
the world, He made them living and life-giving, He made them a source of
supernatural regeneration, refreshment and cleansing. St. Teresa of Avila wrote
that “there is nothing the devils flee from more—without returning—than holy
water.”
In the bible a priest is a
father—and even more of a father than our own earthly father. In the Old
Testament the history of the priesthood had two periods: the patriarchal and
the Levitical. The patriarchal was based on the family order that place authority
down from father to first born son in the form of a “blessing” and the
leadership of the building of altars and for the presenting of sacrifice for
the family. Fathers are empowered as priests by nature. Fatherhood is the
original basis of priesthood. The firstborn is the father’s heir apparent, the
one groomed to succeed one day to paternal authority and priesthood within the
family. Imagine the blow to the Egyptian with the last plague which killed the
firstborn. The pattern continued into the Exodus. There God declared to Moses,
“Israel is my firstborn son”—that is, among the many peoples of the earth,
Israel was God’s heir and his priest. God in His mercy made all heirs through
Christ and with Christ came a restoration of the natural priesthood of fathers
and the establishment of a fatherly order of New Covenant Priests. To Christ,
we are “the children God has given me”,
the “Many sons”, “his bretheren”, the new “seed of Abraham” who together form God’s
“family/household” which Jesus builds
and rules as a son. As all Christians are identified with Christ, the Church
becomes the “assembly of the firstborn.”
(Heb. 2, 3, 12) In the truest sense priests are so much more than managers,
they are fathers. True fatherhood involves the communication of life. Natural
fathers communicate human life but in the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist,
a priest communicates divine life and the divine humanity of Jesus Christ.
Every Priest therefore requires our respect in spite of their weaknesses or
sins and we should pray for them. This is why our Holy Father asks us to pray
for him.
Divine Mercy Novena[5]Day 2
Second Day - Today Bring Me the Souls of Priests and Religious.
Most Merciful Jesus,
from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in us, that we may
perform worthy works of mercy, and that all who see us may glorify the Father
of Mercy who is in heaven.
Eternal Father turn
Your merciful gaze upon the company [of chosen souls] in Your vineyard - upon
the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your
blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart
to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way
of salvation, and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages
without end. Amen.
Novena
for the Poor Souls[6]
O
Mother most merciful, pray for the souls in Purgatory!
PRAYER OF ST. GERTRUDE THE GREAT O Eternal Father, I
offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the
Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory and
for sinners everywhere— for sinners in the Universal Church, for those in my
own home and for those within my family. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE DYING O Most Merciful Jesus, lover of
souls, I pray Thee, by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart, and by the sorrows
of Thine Immaculate Mother, to wash in Thy Most Precious Blood the sinners of
the whole world who are now in their agony and who will die today. Heart of
Jesus, once in agony, have mercy on the dying! Amen.
ON EVERY DAY OF THE NOVENA V. O Lord, hear my prayer,
R. And let my cry come unto Thee. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the
faithful, grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids the remission of
all their sins, that through our devout supplications they may obtain the
pardon they have always desired, Who livest and reignest world without end.
Amen.
SATURDAY O Lord God Almighty, I beseech Thee by the
Precious Blood which gushed forth from the sacred side of Thy divine Son Jesus
in the presence of and to the great sorrow of His most holy Mother, deliver the
souls in Purgatory, and among them all, especially that soul which has been
most devout to this noble Lady, that it may come quickly into Thy glory, there
to praise Thee in her, and her in Thee, through all the ages. Amen. Our Father.
Hail Mary. Glory Be
First Saturday
Five consecutive Saturdays in reparation to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary
The practice of the First
Saturday devotion was requested by Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three shepherd
children in Fatima, Portugal, multiple times starting in 1917. She said to
Lucia, the oldest of the three children: “I
shall come to ask . . . that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions
of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.” Years later she repeated her
request to Sr. Lucia, the only one still living of the three young Fatima
seers, while she was a postulant sister living in a convent in Spain: “Look, my daughter, at my Heart,
surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at very moment by
their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that
I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for
salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months,
shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and
keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the
rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Conditions to Fulfill the First
Saturday Devotion
There are five
requirements to obtain this promise from the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On five
consecutive first Saturdays of the month, one should:
1. Have the intention of
consoling the Immaculate Heart in a spirit of reparation.
2. Go to confession
(within eight days before or after the first Saturday).
3. Receive Holy Communion.
4. Say five decades of the
Holy
Rosary.
5. Meditate for 15 minutes
on the mysteries
of the Holy Rosary with the goal of keeping Our Lady company (for
example, while in church or before an image or statue of Our Lady).
Read How to Make
Your First Saturday Rosary Meditation According to Sr. Lucia
Why Five Saturdays?
Our Lord appeared to Sr.
Lucia on May 29, 1930, and gave her the reason behind the five Saturdays
devotion. It is because there are five types of offenses and blasphemies
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1.
Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2.
Blasphemies against Our Lady’s
perpetual virginity
3.
Blasphemies against her divine maternity, in refusing at the same time to
recognize her as the Mother of men
4.
Blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children,
indifference or scorn or even hatred of their Immaculate Mother
5.
Offenses of those who outrage Our Lady directly in her holy images
Never think that Jesus is
indifferent to whether or not His mother is honored!
Bible in a
year Day 276 Haman's
Plan
Fr.
Mike reads from Nehemiah today, we hear about how the hearts of the people of
Israel were moved as Ezra reads the book of the law of Moses to them. In our
reading of Esther, we have the beginning of the crisis that will unfold
throughout the book as Haman, backed by the king, seeks to destroy the Jews.
Today’s readings are Nehemiah 8, Esther 3 and 13, and Proverbs 21:5-8.
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH
The
Gifts of the Holy Spirit[7]
The
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are, according to Catholic Tradition, wisdom,
understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God. The
standard interpretation has been the one that St. Thomas Aquinas worked out in
the thirteenth century in his Summa Theologiae:
- Wisdom is both
the knowledge of and judgment about “divine things” and the ability to
judge and direct human affairs according to divine truth.
- Understanding is
penetrating insight into the very heart of things, especially those higher
truths that are necessary for our eternal salvation—in effect, the ability
to “see” God.
- Counsel allows a
man to be directed by God in matters necessary for his salvation.
- Fortitude denotes
a firmness of mind in doing good and in avoiding evil, particularly when
it is difficult or dangerous to do so, and the confidence to overcome all
obstacles, even deadly ones, by virtue of the assurance of everlasting
life.
- Knowledge is the
ability to judge correctly about matters of faith and right action, so as
to never wander from the straight path of justice.
- Piety is,
principally, revering God with filial affection, paying worship and duty
to God, paying due duty to all men on account of their relationship to
God, and honoring the saints and not contradicting Scripture. The Latin
word pietas denotes the reverence that we give to our
father and to our country; since God is the Father of all, the worship of
God is also called piety.
- Fear of God is,
in this context, “filial” or chaste fear whereby we revere God and avoid
separating ourselves from him—as opposed to “servile” fear, whereby we
fear punishment.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: An
increase of the faithful
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
[1]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2020-04-11
[2] Goffine’s Divine Instructions, 1896.
[3] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs and
their biblical roots. Chap. 1. Holy Water.
[4] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs
and their biblical roots. Chap. 21. Priesthood.
[5]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1032
[6]Schouppe S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X.. Purgatory Explained
[7]http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/news/news07/april/divinemysteries.htm
Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
A psychological‑Gothic drama where fear, wounded memory, and the architecture of the soul collide—and where love must confront not evil, but the terror a man carries inside himself.
Sources: imdb.com
🎬 Production Snapshot
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Fritz Lang
Release: 1947
Screenplay: Silvia Richards (adaptation), based on Museum Piece No. 13 by Rufus King
Stars: Joan Bennett (Celia Lamphere), Michael Redgrave (Mark Lamphere), Anne Revere (Caroline), Barbara O’Neil (Miss Robey)
Genre: Gothic noir / psychological thriller
Notable: A late‑period Lang film blending expressionist shadows, Freudian psychology, and Bluebeard myth. A meditation on marriage, trauma, and the hidden rooms of the human heart.
🧭 Story Summary
The film opens with a whirlwind romance in Mexico:
Celia Barrett, a wealthy and self‑possessed New Yorker, meets the enigmatic architect Mark Lamphere.
He is brilliant, magnetic, and strangely fragile beneath the surface.
They marry quickly.
Too quickly.
When Celia arrives at Mark’s estate, she discovers a world of shadows and secrets:
- A son who fears his father
- A housekeeper who watches too closely
- A secretary who hides half her face
- And most unsettling of all—
a private wing of rooms meticulously recreating famous murders of women.
One room remains locked.
Mark will not speak of it.
No one will.
As Celia’s fear grows, she begins to suspect that Mark’s obsession is not academic but personal—that the locked room is a prophecy of her own death.
But the truth is deeper and more tragic:
Mark is not a killer.
He is a man haunted by a childhood wound so profound that it has shaped his entire adult life.
The climax is not a battle but a revelation: Celia enters the forbidden room, confronts the wound at its source, and forces Mark to face the memory he has spent a lifetime avoiding.
The film ends not with triumph but with a fragile, hard‑won reconciliation—
a marriage rebuilt on truth rather than illusion.
🕰 Historical & Cultural Context
Released in the late 1940s, the film reflects:
- Post‑war anxieties about masculinity and psychological instability
- Hollywood’s fascination with Freudian analysis
- The Gothic revival in American cinema
- Lang’s own preoccupation with guilt, fate, and the architecture of the mind
It is a spiritual cousin to Rebecca, Gaslight, and Suspicion, but more expressionist, more symbolic, more interior.
Lang turns the house into a psyche:
every corridor a memory, every locked door a wound.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
1. The Wound Beneath the Sin
Mark’s danger is not malice but unhealed trauma.
Catholic moral theology insists that to heal a person, you must descend beneath the symptom to the wound.
Celia does exactly this.
She refuses to treat Mark as a monster; she treats him as a man in bondage.
2. Marriage as a Descent into Mystery
The film dramatizes a truth the Church teaches:
marriage reveals the beloved’s hidden rooms.
Some are beautiful.
Some are terrifying.
All require courage, patience, and grace.
3. Fear as a False Prophet
Celia’s fear tells her to flee.
But fear is not the voice of God.
She chooses discernment instead—
a clear‑eyed courage that neither denies danger nor surrenders to it.
4. Mercy as a Form of Truth‑Telling
Celia’s mercy is not softness.
It is the willingness to name the wound, confront the darkness, and call Mark back to himself.
This is the Catholic pattern: truth without cruelty, mercy without naivety.
5. The Locked Room as a Spiritual Symbol
Every soul has a room it refuses to open.
The film becomes a parable of confession, healing, and the painful grace of revelation.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink
A deep, smoky red—Syrah or a dark Rioja.
Something with shadows and warmth.
Snack
Dark bread with salted butter, or a simple charcuterie plate.
Food that feels elemental, grounding, steady.
Atmosphere
- Low light—one candle or a single lamp
- A quiet room with long shadows
- A sense of entering a mystery rather than solving a puzzle
A space where hidden things can come into the light without fear.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
What is the “locked room” in your own life—the memory, fear, or wound you avoid?
Who in your orbit carries a hidden sorrow that looks like anger, distance, or danger?
And what would it look like to enter that room—
not recklessly, not naively—
but with the courage of Celia Lamphere:
a courage that sees the wound, names it, and brings light where darkness has lived too long?
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