Day XL: Holy Saturday

THE EMPTY TOMB.
Image from thereforegodexists.com

Today is the last day of our Online Lenten Retreat and since there is no liturgical activity for today [except for the Liturgy of the Hours], we have no official readings to guide us for our reflection and sharing this day [the next Liturgical activity is at around midnight for the Easter Vigil already and therefore, part of the Easter Season already].

Instead, let us go back to the last part of yesterday's reading,

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial clothes along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. [John 19: 38-42]

Our Lord Jesus Christ "was crucified, died and was buried", as we recite during the Profession of Faith. These three are essential articles of our Faith. His crucifixion was in fulfillment of that prefiguration of Moses' bronze snake on a poll and which our Lord Himself declared as the way by which He will suffer death [see Numbers 21:9; John 3:14]; His death was the atonement for our sins [see 1 Peter 3:18; Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 10:10]; and, His burial confirmed His death and a necessary evidence for the resurrection [see Matthew 28: 12-14; see also Luke 24:12; John 20: 1-10]. 

His crucifixion was also the clearest evidence of His total humility and emptying out and the fullest expression of His submission to the Father's will [see Philippians 2: 6-11]. His death was a proof of His true humanity [CCC 465]. His burial was followed by His resurrection: a proof of His true divinity [CCC 466]. 

Let us therefore wrap up our Online Lenten Retreat by contemplating on the Lord's crucifixion, death and burial. For without His Good Friday, He won't have His Easter Sunday. Through this may we be able to appreciate the presence of sufferings in our lives and the certainty of death in its proper time for we shall never be forgotten by the Father because He does not want anyone to be lost that's why He sent His only begotten Son [see Matthew 18:14; John 3:16].