Saturday, 4/4/15
Today Christianity is focused on the tomb of Jesus and on the baptismal
pools serving as symbols of his tomb.
Each candidate for baptism, recalling how St. Paul said, “His death was
a death to sin,” steels his or her soul for that step into that pool. That step
must represent an earnest resolve to die to sin with Christ.
On coming up from Christ’s tomb, the newly baptized lifts his or her
forehead to the priest, asking to
be anointed with the Holy Spirit who will occupy a soul emptied of sin.
The church’s Holy Saturday rituals do not belong solely to the fresh candidates
for baptism. On Holy Saturday we are all called on to repeat our baptisms. Each
of us is called on to solemnly repeat his or her baptismal vows of renouncing
Satan and all his works.
It would be seriously wrong for us to regard the renewal of baptismal
vows as a meaningless ritual. Rather, the whole of lent must be seen as the spiritual
preparation needed for making that renewal real. It is only if we die with him
that we will rise with him.
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