From a liturgical point of view, today is considered "dead time." Although we continue to pray the liturgy of the hours, today we have no Mass and no Communion. Nonetheless, this is an important day.

The Lord has revealed that we are baptized not only into His death and resurrection but also into His burial (Rm 6:4; Col 2:12). Our sharing in Christ's burial is important because during the time Jesus was buried He went in the spirit "to preach to the spirits in prison" (1 Pt 3:19). "The reason the gospel was preached even to the dead was that, although condemned in the flesh in the eyes of men, they might live in the spirit in the eyes of God" (1 Pt 4:6). Today the Lord is proclaiming that He is the only Way to salvation (see Jn 14:6) and that He offers salvation through His preaching.

This Holy Saturday proclamation prepares us to rejoice with the hundreds of thousands being baptized this evening. It also prepares us to enter tonight into the Church's most extensive liturgical proclamation of God's word. Let Holy Saturday be holy.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, August 18, 2001

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 25, 2001