1. Don’t rehearse the Easter Vigil Almost everywhere, parishes are planning to rehearse the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. I know this is going to be hard to hear, but we have to stop making Holy Saturday a work day. It is a day of prayer, reflection, and fasting (see RCIA 185). In the Eastern …
One of the fabulous images for Holy Saturday is that of Jesus—after his descent into death—pulling Adam and Eve out of their tomb, their prison, and into the light and air. Their shackles fall away. Their eyes blink at the light. It’s the so-called “harrowing of hell” theme (it’s not really hell of course, but …
The preparation rites on Holy Saturday include an optional ritual for choosing a baptismal name (turn to paragraph 200 in your RCIA text to follow along). In the United States, we do not ask the elect to do this. (Keep a finger in the book to mark your place and flip back to paragraph 33.4.) …
