This sermon was taken, almost in its entirety, from "The Liturgical Year" by Dom Prosper Guéranger, abbot of Solesmes.
Holy Saturday has well nigh run its course, and the dawn of Easter is approaching.
In the underworld, the Soul of our crucified Lord is about to give the glad word of departure to the myriads of long-imprisoned holy souls, who cluster 'round Him in adoring love. Death is still holding his silent sway over the sepulchre where the Body of Jesus rests. Since the day when Death gained his first victim, Abel, he has swept off countless generations; but never has he held in his grasp a prey so noble as the One who now lies in the tomb near Calvary. Never has the terrible sentence of God, pronounced against our first parents, “YOU SHALL SURELY DIE,” received such a fulfillment as this; but, never has Death received such a defeat as the one that it is about to suffer. It is true, the power of God has, at times, brought back the dead to life: the son of the widow of Naim, for instance, and Lazarus, were reclaimed from the bondage of this tyrant Death; but he regained his sway over them all. But the Victim of Calvary is to conquer him for ever, for this is He of whom it is written in the prophecy: ‘O death! I will be your death!’ [Osee, xiii, 14]. Yet a few brief moments and the battle will be begun, and life shall vanquish death.
Jesus had said to the Jews: ‘A wicked generation seeks a sign; no sign shall be given it, but that of Jonah the prophet.’ [St. Matth. xii, 39]. Three days in the tomb—the afternoon and night of Friday, the whole of Saturday, and the first few hours of the Sunday—these are enough: enough to satisfy divine justice; enough to certify the death of the Crucified, and make His triumph glorious.
‘No one takes away my life from Me: I lay it down of Myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.’ [St. John, x, 18]. This is what Our Lord said before His Passion: now is the hour for the fulfillment of His words, and Death shall feel their whole force. As the first rays of dawn break across the horizon, the Soul of Jesus immediately darts from the prison of the netherworld, followed by the whole multitude of the holy souls that are around Him. In the twinkling of an eye, it reaches and enters the tomb, and reunites itself with that Body, which, three days before, it had quitted amidst an agony of suffering. The sacred Body returns to life, raises itself up, and throws aside the winding-sheet, the spices, and the bands. The bruises have disappeared, the Blood has been brought back to the veins; and from the wounds in his hands and in his side, from these hands and feet that had been pierced with nails, there shines forth a dazzling light that fills the cave.
The holy Angels had once clustered 'round the stable and adored the Babe of Bethlehem; they are now gathered around the tomb, adoring the conqueror of death. They take the shrouds and, reverently, folding them up, place them on the slab, whereon the Body had been laid by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
O death! where is now thy sting? Sin had made us your slaves; your victory was complete; and now, behold! You yourself are defeated! Jesus, whom you exultingly held under your law, has set Himself free; and we, after you have domineered over us for a time, we too shall be free from your grasp. The tomb you make for us, will become to us the source of a new life, for He that now conquers you is “the First-born among the dead” and to-day is the Passover, the deliverance, for Jesus and for us, his brethren. He has led the way; we shall follow; and the day will come, when you, the enemy that destroys all things, shall yourself be destroyed by immortality. Your defeat dates from this moment of Jesus’ resurrection, and so, with St. Paul, we say to you: “O death! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting?”
And so, with great rejoicing, we now bless the font from which we share in the power of Christ's resurrection.
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