MARCH 30, 2024 – HOLY SATURDAY – ST. JOHN CLIMACUS.

• St. John Climacus (605). Abbot or Abbess. (Historical)
• St. Quirinius of Neuss (117). Martyr. (Historical)

HOLY SATURDAY.

THREE hours after Jesus Christ had uttered His last sigh on the cross, two of His disciples, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, went to ask Pilate for the body, that they might give it burial. Having obtained it, they embalmed it according to the custom of the Jews, and deposited it not far from the place of Calvary, in a tomb hewn in the rock, wherein no one had yet been laid. Pilate caused the entrance to be sealed up, and placed a guard over it, lest the body should be taken away. The Saviour thus remained from nightfall on the Friday till the first rays of dawn on the Sunday. He had himself said that He was to pass this time in the tomb, and had quoted as an example the abiding of the prophet Jonas for the same space of time in the whale’s belly. It was then a real death that was associated with these signs and precautions, and the sacrifice had been consummated and was irrevocable. Well might we then marvel at such excess of love, covering ourselves with confusion at the thought of how feebly we love Him who hath so greatly loved us, and of how little we do for Him who hath accomplished so much for us. But we would enter upon another consideration. With Jesus Christ died both the ancient world with its hideous worship; the synagogue with its symbols and mysteries; and the man of sin, the old Adam, with its concupiscences-yea, even death itself, which had been inflicted on man in punishment for sin. With Jesus Christ died sin, and sin was placed in the tomb with Him; for, according to the beautiful expression of the Apostle, the Saviour fastened the sins of men to the cross. 

Now the cross itself was buried on the spot where Christ had suffered, as was the custom among the Jews, and as was fully shown by the finding thereof in conjunction with those of the two thieves, three centuries later, by St. Helen; whence it follows that among us Christians, the disciples, that is, of Christ, and regenerated by His death, there ought never to lurk any shadow of Jewish superstition or pagan morals, any remnant of the old Adam or man of sin. Concupiscences, disorderly passions, and love of the world should no longer exist but as the memory of a time that is no more.

REFLECTION: “For we are buried together with Him by baptism unto death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of His Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also of His resurrection. Knowing this, that the old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer.”

ST. JOHN CLIMACUS.

JOHN made, while still young, such progress in learning that he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mt. Sinai, where he put himself under the direction of a holy monk. Never was novice more fervent, more unrelaxing in his efforts for self-mastery. After four years, he took the vows, and an aged abbot foretold that he would some day be one of the greatest lights of the Church. Nineteen years later, on the death of his director, he withdrew into a deeper solitude, where he studied the lives and writings of the Saints, and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. The fame of his holiness and practical wisdom drew crowds around him for advice and consolation. For his greater profit he visited the solitudes of Egypt. At the age of seventy-five he was chosen abbot of Mt. Sinai, and there “he dwelt in the mount of God, and drew from the rich treasure of his heart priceless riches of doctrine, which he poured forth with wondrous abundance and benediction.” He was induced by a brother abbot to write the rules by which he had guided his life; and his book, called the Climax, or Ladder of Perfection, has been prized in all ages for its wisdom its clearness, and its unction. At the end of four years, he would no longer endure the honors and distractions of his office, and retired to his solitude, where he died A.D. 605.

REFLECTION: “Cast not from thee, my brother,” says the Imitation of Christ, “the sure hope of attaining to the spiritual life; still hast thou the time and the means.”

WORD OF THE DAY

LATRIA. The veneration due to God alone for his supreme excellence and to show people’s complete submission to him. It is essentially adoration. As absolute latria, it is given only to God, as the Trinity, or one of the Divine Persons, Christ as God and as man, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Holy Eucharist. Representations of God as images connected with the Divinity may receive relative latria, which is given not to the symbol but to the Godhead, whom it signifies. (Etym. Greek latreiā, service, worship.)

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

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