“Vigil”
This God loves and redeems all creation. This God says, Look, I make all things new. This God plucks us from the waters of chaos and sets us on the Living Rock.
Go here for the poem entire, a suitable text on which to reflect on Holy Saturday.
The texts of Holy Saturday in Eastern Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism include: Psalm 104 [103] (the proemial Psalm); Psalm 141 [140]; 142 [141]; Ps 130 [129]; (1) Genesis 1:1-13; (2) Isaiah 60:1-16; (3) Exodus 12:1-11; (4) Jonah 1:1-4:11; (5) Joshua 5:10-15; (6) Exodus 13:20-15:19; (7) Zephaniah 3:8-15; (8) 1 Kings 17:8-24; (9) Isaiah 61:10-62:5; (10) Genesis 22:1-18; (11) Isaiah 61:1-9; (12) 2 Kings 4:8-37; (13) Isaiah 63:11-64:5; (14) Jeremiah 31:31-34; (15) Daniel 3:1-68 (including the Hymn of the Three Youths); Romans 6:3-11 (the Epistle, on baptism); Psalm 82 [81]; Matthew 28:1-20 (the Gospel).
The texts read in churches indebted to the Latin rite include, but are not limited to (1) Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26; (2) Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13 and Psalm 46; (3) Genesis 22:1-18 and Psalm 16; (4) Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 and Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18; [Isaiah 54:4a.5-14;] (5) Isaiah 55:1-11 and Isaiah 12:2-6; [Baruch 3:9-15, 3:32-4:4 or Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6 and Psalm 19;] (6) Ezekiel 36:24-28 and Psalm 42, 43; (7) Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Psalm 143; [Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Psalm 98;] Romans 6:3-11, Psalm 114; Matthew 28:1-10.
The intertexts of "Vigil" overlap with and extend beyond the above; a selection is offered here. All translations are my own.
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Revelation 21:1, 5
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| Καὶ εἶδον οὐρανὸν καινὸν καὶ γῆν καινήν |
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. |
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Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ· |
And the one who sat on the throne said: |
| Ἰδοὺ καινὰ ποιῶ πάντα. | Look, I make all things new. |
| Isaiah 43:10b, 13 | |
| Before me no God was formed, | לְפָנַי לֹא־נוֹצַר אֵל |
| and after me none shall come to exist. | וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה |
| From day one I am he, | גַּם־מִיּוֹם אֲנִי הוּא |
| and none can pluck from my hand. | וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּיל |
| I act, and who can reverse it? | אֶפְעַל וּמִי יְשִׁיבֶנָּה |
| Psalm 144:5-7a | |
| LORD, bend your heavens, and you come down; | יהוה הַט־שָׁמֶיךָ וְתֵרֵד |
| touch the mountains, and let them smoke! | גַּע בֶּהָרִים וְיֶעֱשָׁנוּ |
| Crack lightning, and you disject them; | בְּרוֹק בָּרָק וּתְפִיצֵם |
| send your arrows, and you roil them! | שְׁלַח חִצֶּיךָ וּתְהַמֵּם |
| Send your hands from on high; | שְׁלַח יָדֶיךָ מִמָּרוֹם |
| disject me and pluck me | פְּצֵנִי וְהַצִּילֵנִי |
| from mighty waters! | מִמַּיִם רַבִּים |
| Psalm 27:5 | |
| For he hides me in his shelter | כִּי יִצְפְּנֵנִי בְּסֻכֹּה |
| on a day of trouble; | בְּיוֹם רָעָה |
| He conceals me in the recesses of his tent, | יַסְתִּרֵנִי בְּסֵתֶר אָהֳלוֹ |
| on a rock he sets me high. | בְּצוּר יְרוֹמְמֵנִי |