Where did Jesus go on Holy Saturday?

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After Jesus died on the cross, what happened next? What happened on Holy Saturday?

We all know that Jesus rose on the third day, but what happened in between? In fact, we profess every Sunday that Jesus, “descended into Hell,” or as it is sometimes translated, “descended to the dead.”

The Catechism offers some clarity on this much-misunderstood topic.

Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, ‘hell’ – Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek – because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into ‘Abraham’s bosom’:

‘It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.’ Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

‘The gospel was preached even to the dead.’

The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

While the Catechism’s words bring light to this hidden period in Jesus’ life after death, there is an ancient homily from Holy Saturday, not attributed to any source, which animates the scene brilliantly and can help us enter into the mysterious events following Good Friday. Below is printed the full text of the ancient homily.

© P.M WYSOCKI / LUMIERE DU MONDE

Awake, O sleeper

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 parent 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.

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 my hands

‘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.’

 

Mark 16:1-8 Holy Saturday - Gospel for the Easter Vigil

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (full canvas and detail), Painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), Painted between 1520 and 1522, Oil and tempera on limewood, © Kunstmuseum Basel

Gospel Reading

When the sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, just as the sun was rising. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they could see that the stone – which was very big – had already been rolled back. On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him. But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him, just as he told you.”’

Reflection on the painting

In the heart of Flanders, as in many parts of the world observing the solemnity of Holy Week, Holy Saturday is known as 'Stille Zaterdag'—Silent Saturday. This nomenclature, rich in its simplicity, profoundly conveys the essence of today: a day of silence. Silent Saturday serves as a poignant interlude between the profound sorrow of Good Friday, marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and the exuberant joy of Easter Sunday, celebrating his resurrection. This silence is not merely the absence of sound. It is a deeply contemplative space, a sacred pause that invites reflection, waiting, and anticipation. It mirrors the silence of the tomb, where the body of Christ lay after his crucifixion, and the world seems to hold its breath in anticipation of the fulfillment of his promise of resurrection. Today is the day between the horrendous death of Christ and the raising of his body The day between the struggle and the solution The day between despair and hope The day between the question and the answer The day between death and life The day between the shouts of torture and the shouts of joy. … today we do what Jesus did: lie still, stay silent, and trust in God… Tonight all will change! Our painting by Hans Holbein the Younger depicts the dead Christ in the tomb. It is a narrow, life-sized painting (30.5 cm x 200 cm). I also accompany the illustration with a detail of the work. Christ's face, hands and feet, as well as the wounds in his torso, are depicted as realistic dead flesh in the early stages of putrefaction, the process of decay in a body. His eyes and mouth are left open. It is a hard painting to look at. Discussing the artist's use of unflinching realism, art historian Oscar Bätschmann noted that Christ's raised and extended middle finger appears to "reach towards the beholder", and makes the point there is only one God. One God, one faith, one way towards Christ. The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was captivated by the work. In 1867, his wife had to drag him away from the panel. He spent hours in front of it. Dostoevsky saw in Holbein an impulse similar to one of his own main literary preoccupations: the pious desire to confront Christian faith with everything that negated it, in this case the laws of nature and the stark reality of death. In his 1869 novel The Idiot, the character Prince Myshkin, having viewed a copy of the painting in the home of Rogozhin, declares that it has the power to make the viewer lose his faith.

by Father Patrick van der Vorst

 

Cardinal Says Joe Biden is a “Nominal” Catholic, Should be Excommunicated for Supporting Abortion

National  |  Steven Ertelt  |   Mar 29, 2024   |   9:30AM   |  Washington, DC

In a new interview, a Catholic Cardinal who headed up one of the top Vatican offices says Joe Biden is “nominal” Catholic and should be excommunicated for supporting abortion.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who previously lead the Vatican’s highest doctrine office, called abortion “infanticide” and saying those politicians who actively support abortion like Biden should be “excommunicated.”

“The word ‘abortion’ is too much a soft word. The reality is killing, murder of a living person,” said Gerhard Cardinal Müller. “There’s no right to kill another person. It’s absolutely against the Fifth Commandment.”

Here’s more from the new report:

Cardinal Müller likened the killing of the unborn and the elderly to the “Nazi” times, saying that “it’s absolutely unacceptable that you can say you are a Catholic and promote and justify killing of human persons, human beings [from] the beginning in the mother’s womb, until the last respiration [with] euthanasia… Killing of ill people, like in the Nazi times, is euthanasia.”

Biden is very public about his self-professed Catholic faith, but Cardinal Müller suggested that while Biden is “nominally a Catholic, in reality he is a Nihilist. It’s cynicism and absolute cynicism.”

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The prelate contrasted Biden with Catholics and other Christians throughout America who “know and accept as everybody also, the nonbelievers, with their own mere reason, they can understand that it’s not possible that one human being has a right to kill another one.”

Drawing on the example of St. Ambrose of Milan and his excommunication of the Emperor Theodosius, Cardinal Müller commented how “in other times people like this would be excommunicated. In former times the Popes and the bishops had no fear to excommunicate, like St. Ambrose of Milan.”

Cardinal Müller is not alone.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, and the chair of the bishops’ pro-life committee, repeatedly has condemned Biden’s actions and highlighted the problems that his hypocrisy is causing in the Catholic Church.

“Because President Biden is Catholic, it presents a unique problem for us,” Naumann said. “It can create confusion. … How can he say he’s a devout Catholic and he’s doing these things that are contrary to the church’s teaching?”

In Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory said he will not refuse Communion to the president, and Biden reportedly has attended Mass in D.C. several times in recent months.

But others, including Naumann, have warned pro-abortion politicians not to receive Communion unless they repent, and some have said they would refuse to give Communion to Biden if he does not.

“Obviously, the president doesn’t believe what we believe about the sacredness of human life, or he wouldn’t be taking the actions that he is,” Naumann said. “And yet, he continues to receive the Eucharist. We can’t judge his heart. But we consider the action itself a grave moral evil.”

In an interview, Cardinal Raymond Burke even argued that pro-abortion politicians like Biden may be excommunicated from the Catholic Church because of their “open and aggressive” apostasy.

Burke, a leading expert in Canon Law and former head of the Vatican’s highest court, discussed the controversy in a March interview with Thomas McKenna of Catholic Action for Faith and Family.

When asked how the Catholic Church should address the problem of a pro-abortion Catholic leader like Biden, Burke outlined several steps, including confronting the individual and urging them to repent, CNS News reports. If the individual obstinately persists in doing evil, they could face excommunication, the cardinal said.

“The question is, that such a person who claims to be a Catholic and yet promotes in such an open, obdurate and aggressive way a crime like procured abortion is in the state, at least, of apostasy,” Burke told McKenna.

“In other words, to do this is to draw away from Christ and to draw away from the Catholic faith,” he said. “And so the second action, which needs to be considered, is a canonical penalty, a sanction, for the crime of apostasy, which would be excommunication.”

Their discussion began when McKenna brought up how many of Biden’s policies on life and family contradict church teachings. He also noted how often Biden and his press secretary mention the president’s Catholic faith and its influence on his life.

“What can be done now? … What can be done other than saying something? Is there a next step?” McKenna asked.

Burke said Biden’s claims of faith and his open defiance of church teachings are misleading people. He said many people, not just Catholics, are questioning why the church continues to give the holy sacrament of communion to someone who openly promotes the evil of abortion.

One of the first things that the church can do in response is to tell Biden not to present himself for communion, Burke said.

“A person who obstinately and publicly denies truths of the faith and actually acts against the truths of the faith or of the moral law, may not present himself or herself to receive Holy Communion,” the cardinal said.

“And, at the same time, the minister of Holy Communion, usually the priest, is not to give them Holy Communion, should they present themselves,” he continued. “Now, normally speaking, people should understand that the crime of procured abortion is a grievous violation against the first precept of the moral law, namely the safeguarding and promoting of human life.”

Burke said the priest should warn the person first about not receiving communion until he or she repents, and “should the person present himself, he should be denied.”

He described abortion, the intentional killing of an innocent unborn child, as one of several “horrible crimes against moral law.” And, Burke noted, it is just one of several immoral things that Biden is promoting.

“We just talk about abortion, but there are other issues, too,” Burke said. “The integrity of the family. Also, he’s threatened to act against religious freedom by trying to force the Little Sisters of the Poor, and so forth, to pay for insurance for immoral practices.”

The cardinal explained that the purpose of denying communion to someone is not about punishment but about “a worthy reception of the sacrament. It’s simply the discipline that is necessary because of the reality of the Holy Eucharist.”

He continued: “The Holy Eucharist … is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to receive the body of Christ knowingly and willingly in the state of sin is a sacrilege. It’s one of the worst sins.”

Quoting 1 Corinthians 11, Burke said: “‘He who eats the body and blood of Christ without recognizing it, eats his own condemnation.’ And so, in order to prevent a commission of a sacrilege, we have to insist that such people not approach to receive Holy Communion.

“It’s not only for their own salvation, certainly, but also then to avoid the scandal given to others who see someone who’s publicly promoting grievously immoral acts and yet presents himself to receive Holy Communion,” he said.

This is not the first time that Burke has called out Biden for supporting the destruction of innocent life in violation of church teachings. In an August interview, Burke said Biden should not receive communion unless he repents.

Then, in a Jan. 24 homily, he described Biden’s plan to expand abortions by “codifying” Roe v. Wade as a “program of lies and murder” that comes from Satan.

“In our own nation, the federal government wants to codify as law the totally unjust decision of the Supreme Court, which made legal abortion on demand, and to impose upon schools the teaching of the iniquitous gender theory,” he said. “We live in times when it can seem that the Evil One is succeeding in his program of lies and death.”

 

John 18:1-19:42 Good Friday - The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ

Diptych with Scenes from Christ's Passion of Christ, French (possibly Paris), between 1350–75 AD, Ivory carving with metal hinges © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Gospel Reading

Key: N. Narrator. ✠ Jesus. O. Other single speaker. C. Crowd, or more than one speaker. N. Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kedron valley. There was a garden there, and he went into it with his disciples. Judas the traitor knew the place well, since Jesus had often met his disciples there, and he brought the cohort to this place together with a detachment of guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. Knowing everything that was going to happen to him, Jesus then came forward and said, ✠ Who are you looking for? N. They answered, C. Jesus the Nazarene. N. He said, ✠ I am he. N. Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. When Jesus said, ‘I am he’, they moved back and fell to the ground. He asked them a second time, ✠ Who are you looking for? N. They said, C. Jesus the Nazarene. N. Jesus replied, ✠ I have told you that I am he. If I am the one you are looking for, let these others go. N. This was to fulfil the words he had spoken, ‘Not one of those you gave me have I lost.’ Simon Peter, who carried a sword, drew it and wounded the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, ✠ Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me? N. The cohort and its captain and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had suggested to the Jews, ‘It is better for one man to die for the people.’ Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest’s palace, but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who was keeping the door and brought Peter in. The maid on duty at the door said to Peter, O. Aren’t you another of that man’s disciples? N. He answered, O. I am not. N. Now it was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming himself with the others. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered, ✠ I have spoken openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together: I have said nothing in secret. But why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught: they know what I said. N. At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying, O. Is that the way to answer the high priest? N. Jesus replied, ✠ If there is something wrong in what I said, point it out; but if there is no offence in it, why do you strike me? N. Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. As Simon Peter stood there warming himself, someone said to him, O. Aren’t you another of his disciples? N. He denied it, saying, O. I am not. N. One of the high priest’s servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, O. Didn’t I see you in the garden with him? N. Again Peter denied it; and at once a cock crew. They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves or they would be defiled and unable to eat the passover. So Pilate came outside to them and said, O. What charge do you bring against this man? N. They replied, C. If he were not a criminal, we should not be handing him over to you. N. Pilate said, O. Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law. N. The Jews answered, C. We are not allowed to put a man to death. N. This was to fulfil the words Jesus had spoken indicating the way he was going to die. So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him, and asked, O. Are you the king of the Jews? N. Jesus replied, ✠ Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me? N. Pilate answered, O. Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done? N. Jesus replied, ✠ Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind. N. Pilate said, O. So you are a king, then? N. Jesus answered, ✠ It is you who say it. Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice. N. Pilate said, O. Truth? What is that? N. and with that he went out again to the Jews and said, O. I find no case against him. But according to a custom of yours I should release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to release the king of the Jews? N. At this they shouted: C. Not this man, but Barabbas. N. Barabbas was a brigand. Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; and after this, the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying, C. Hail, king of the Jews! N. and they slapped him in the face. Pilate came outside again and said to them, O. Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you see that I find no case. N. Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, O. Here is the man. N. When they saw him the chief priests and the guards shouted, C. Crucify him! Crucify him! N. Pilate said, O. Take him yourselves and crucify him: I can find no case against him. N. The Jews replied, C. We have a Law, and according to that Law he ought to die, because he has claimed to be the Son of God. N. When Pilate heard them say this his fears increased. Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus O. Where do you come from? N. But Jesus made no answer. Pilate then said to him, O. Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you? N. Jesus replied, ✠ You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above; that is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt. N. From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the Jews shouted, C. If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar’s; anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar. N. Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated himself on the chair of judgement at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was Passover Preparation Day, about the sixth hour. Pilate said to the Jews, O. Here is your king. N. They said, C. Take him away, take him away! Crucify him! N. Pilate said, O. Do you want me to crucify your king? N. The chief priests answered, C. We have no king except Caesar. N. So in the end Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. They then took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out of the city to the place of the skull or, as it was called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him with two others, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran: ‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.’ This notice was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city, and the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate, C. You should not write ‘King of the Jews,’ but ‘This man said: “I am King of the Jews.”’ N. Pilate answered, O. What I have written, I have written. N. When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four shares, one for each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one piece from neck to hem; so they said to one another, C. Instead of tearing it, let’s throw dice to decide who is to have it. N. In this way the words of scripture were fulfilled: They shared out my clothing among them. They cast lots for my clothes. This is exactly what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ✠ Woman, this is your son. N. Then to the disciple he said, ✠ This is your mother. N. And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home. After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfil the scripture perfectly he said: ✠ I am thirsty. N. A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, ✠ It is accomplished; N. and bowing his head he gave up his spirit. Here all kneel and pause for a short time. It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath – since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it – trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth – and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken; and again, in another place scripture says: They will look on the one whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus – though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews – asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well – the same one who had first come to Jesus at night-time – and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, following the Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was near at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Reflection on the Ivory Carving

I will keep the reflection very short today, just showing a work of art as an aid to simply sit alongside our Gospel reading. This French ivory carving, made between 1350–75 AD, depicts the whole Passion narrative. It reads from left to right, top to bottom: the Entry into Jerusalem and the Last Supper; Christ washing his disciples' feet and the Agony in the Garden; the Betrayal of Christ and the Crucifixion. "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed." - Isaiah 53:5