From an Ancient Author
What is happening? Today a great silence envelops the earth; a great silence and a great calm. A great silence because the King sleeps; the earth trembled and became still, because God slept in the flesh and has awakened those who have slept for centuries. God has died in the flesh and the abyss has shuddered.
Truly, He is going to seek our first father like the lost sheep; He wants to visit those who lie in darkness and in the shadow of death. He is going to free Adam and his companion in captivity, Eve, from their pains, He who is at once God and son of Adam.
The Lord enters where they are, carrying His victorious weapon, His Cross. Seeing Him, Adam, the first man created, strikes his breast in terror and cries out to all: «My Lord be with you all». And Christ answers Adam: «And with your spirit. Amen!». And taking him by the hand, He raises him saying: «Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you».
«I am your God, who for your sake became your son; for you and your descendants I now speak and command with authority those who are in prison: Come out; and to those who are in darkness: Have light; and to those who sleep: Rise».
«I command you: Awake, sleeper, for I did not create you to remain captive in the abyss. Rise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Rise, man, work of my hands; rise, you who were formed in my image. Rise, let us go from here; 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 Lord, took the form of a slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came to the earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became like a helpless man, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to the Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden».
«Look at the spittle on my face, which I received for you, to restore to you that first divine breath of creation. Look at the blows to my cheeks, which I accepted to reform your distorted appearance according to my own image».
«Look at the scourges on my back, which I accepted to disperse the burden of your sins that was placed on your shoulders. Look at my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who extended your hand to the tree for an evil one».
«I slept on the Cross and a lance 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 free you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has stopped the sword that was turned against you».
«But rise, let us go from here. The enemy led you out of the land of paradise; I will install you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of Heaven. I forbade you the tree of life, which was a figure; but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I placed the cherubim to guard you as a slave; now I make the cherubim worship you as God».
«The throne of the cherubim has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is arranged, the banquet provided, the eternal dwellings and rooms are prepared; the treasures of goods have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared from before the ages».
Reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
Prayer
Almighty and eternal God, whose Only Begotten Son descended into the realm of the dead and rose from there in glory, grant to your faithful, who were buried with him in baptism, that, by his resurrection, they may obtain eternal life. (Through our Lord). (Through Jesus Christ our Lord).
Prepared by the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas