Dear Father,
Some friends mentioned something called Silent Saturday. They said it comes after Good Friday. I never heard of Silent Saturday before. I asked our permanent deacon about it and he said he never heard of it. Can you explain this?
-Eric
Dear Eric,
In the Catholic Church, we use the title Holy Saturday to denote the day after Good Friday. In Eastern Orthodoxy, the name is the Great Sabbath, referring to Christ “resting” in the tomb on Holy Saturday. Some Protestant groups call it Silent Saturday.
Holy Saturday is a mysterious day. After his savage crucifixion on Friday (called “Good” because of Christ’s gift to us of his life for our salvation), the friends of Jesus laid his sacred body in a tomb. There his body lay until that amazing spark of a moment when Jesus rose from the dead.
While Catholics do not call this day “Silent Saturday,” it truly is a day of silence. We are encouraged to continue the fasting and abstinence of Good Friday. We are meant to spend the day in prayer, anticipating Easter while pondering the mysteries of our salvation from eternal death. It is a day of special meditative prayer.
“Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today.” That’s the first line of a reading from an ancient homily, dating to the 2nd century, from the Liturgy of the Hours on Holy Saturday.
There is no Mass on Holy Saturday. The Mass that is celebrated on Holy Thursday evening, the Mass of the Last Supper, is the celebration of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood. The next Mass after Holy Thursday does not take place until late Saturday night, the Easter Vigil.
There will be no Eucharistic adoration on Holy Saturday. This is because the Eucharist is removed from all tabernacles on Holy Thursday. What remains of the Eucharist is kept for the distribution of Holy Communion on Good Friday and for those who are at the point of death. Churches will be dark and empty; even the altar cloths and candles will be removed. This symbolizes the time our Lord spent in the dark and cold tomb.
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On Holy Saturday, we contemplate the mystery of something Christ did, though dead: his descent into hell. It is called the great sabbath because it is the day of rest from the work that Christ did in his life, culminating in his death, which saves us from eternal death.
What does it mean that Christ descended into hell, words we use every time we recite the Creed? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains Christ “sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection” (632). This was not the hell we mean when we speak of the place of eternal punishment of the damned. We mean, rather, Sheol or Hades, the abode of the dead who were waiting for Christ’s salvation.
We also speak of the “harrowing of hell” as taking place on Holy Saturday. A harrow is a farm instrument used to break up clods of earth. Imagine Christ breaking down the gates of Sheol with his cross, the instrument of our salvation. He frees those who were waiting for his arrival, waiting for his salvation, first of all, Adam and Eve. Beautiful icons depicting this scene can be found online.
Returning to the 2nd century homily mentioned above, we read that Christ, “greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness…. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory…. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell,” he says. “Rise, let us leave this place.”
This does not mean, however, that the pits of hell are empty. Hell proper, or Gehenna in Catholic teaching, is the place of eternal punishment in the “lake of fire” (CCC 1034). It is the everlasting abode of Satan and the evil angels, who hate God, as well as disobedient human souls who refuse to repent of their sins (Rev. 20:15).
Here are some recommendations for what to do on Holy Saturday. First, make it a day of preparation for Easter. In the midst of the busyness of getting ready for Easter Sunday dinner, try to spend at least half an hour in silent prayer, especially thanking God for the gift of Christ’s death for your sins.
There can be no Eucharistic adoration, due to the absence of the Blessed Sacrament, but we can make a spiritual communion. A spiritual communion involves asking Jesus to be present to us even though we cannot receive him actually in the Eucharist.
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Read from the gospel about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and tell God about your own desire for life with him in heaven. Picture the harrowing of hell and the joy of seeing the risen Lord, possessing him for all eternity with your loved ones. Pray the rosary, envision images of Christ’s resurrection. Renew your hope for eternal life:
“O my God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.”