Holy Saturday, April 20, 2019

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

In our baptism, we are buried with Christ in his death, and in this life we await our resurrection into his presence with God. 

In the Easter Vigil, we complete our journey of penitence and preparation with the joy of the resurrection. We hear the whole story of God’s redeeming action, and are assured of our place in that story. In a sense, we are lying with Christ in the tomb, waiting to burst forth from that womb into the new and larger life of restored union with God. 

This is the joy of Easter. If we have died with Christ in a death like his, we know that we shall also rise with him into a life in union with God. 

Our life together as the Church in the world, as the Body of Christ, participates in the union of the two natures of Christ, even now, but we know that we shall share that life in even closer union in the life to come.

O God, creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Collect for Holy Saturday, BCP 221)