27 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4
Great Saturday is the quietest day of the year. The body of the Lord lies in the new tomb in the garden, the stone is rolled across the door, and the disciples hide behind locked doors. Mary keeps watch in faith. Nothing seems to happen, and yet this is the day on which the Church confesses in the Creed: he descended into hell, among the dead. The First Letter of Peter says that Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18–19). An ancient homily for this day imagines the Lord going down to find Adam, taking him by the hand and saying: Awake, O sleeper, I did not make you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. The Saviour goes to the very bottom of human loss, so that no one, not even the dead of the ages before him, is beyond the reach of his rescue. The Church reads again the story of Abraham and Isaac, because Isaac was received back from the mountain as if from the dead; the Letter to the Hebrews says Abraham believed that God was able even to raise someone from the dead (Hebrews 11:17–19). The father who walked down Moriah with his living son is a first glimpse of the morning that is coming.
The second reading is the prayer of Jonah from the belly of the fish. Jonah had run from God and been thrown into the sea; now, from the depths, he prays: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” He describes himself as already among the dead: “I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God.” And then the strange and joyful ending: “Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.” Jesus himself chose this sign: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jonah went down because of his disobedience; Jesus went down because of ours. Jonah came out to preach to Nineveh; the Risen One comes out to send his apostles to all the nations. The East Syriac tradition loves this sign: the Lord who was swallowed by death was, like Jonah, too much for death to keep.
Paul explains what this means for every baptised Christian. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Baptism is our own Great Saturday and our own Easter: the old self goes down into the water as into a tomb, and a new person rises. “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” That is why the ancient Church baptised on this night, and why the first week of Easter was the week of the newly baptised. Then the Gospel runs ahead of the clock: “After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning”, the women come to the tomb, the earth shakes, an angel rolls back the stone and sits on it, and says: “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.” The Risen Lord meets the women on the road, and at the end he sends the eleven from a mountain in Galilee: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The great silence of Saturday is the silence before the shout.
How a family can keep Great Saturday, step by step (the order and hours differ between dioceses and parishes; follow your own parish). First, the morning: in many parishes the faithful gather for the blessing of new fire and new water. The new fire speaks of Christ the light who cannot be put out; the blessed water speaks of Baptism. The people then renew their baptismal promises: they renounce Satan and all his works, and profess faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Qurbana follows in many places, and families carry the blessed water home to bless the house and the sick. Second, the day: the church stays quiet, and the faithful visit the tomb where the Lord's image lies. At home the house is cleaned and the Easter meal is prepared, but without noise: it is still a day of waiting, and many continue the fast until the Easter celebration. Third, the night: late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday, the parish gathers in the dark for the Resurrection service (Uyirppu). The priest proclaims that Christ is risen, the church is filled with light, the bells ring out, the image of the Risen Lord is lifted up and carried in procession with candles, and the Holy Qurbana of the Resurrection is celebrated. Fourth, the return home: in many Kerala homes the fifty days of the Great Fast are broken only after this Qurbana, with appam and stew shared in joy. A good habit for today: let each person in the family find the date of his or her baptism, and thank God for it before going to the church tonight.
Theme: “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
The great silence of the tomb, the sign of Jonah, our burial and rising in Baptism, and the stone rolled away.
“Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”” Genesis 22:14
“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,” 1 Peter 3:18
Apply: Keep one hour of today in silence, waiting with Mary.
“I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” Jonah 2:2
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40
Apply: Bring to God the place in your life that feels like the bottom of the sea.
“I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.” Ezekiel 36:25
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Romans 6:3
Apply: Renew your baptismal promises today with full attention, and find your baptism date.
“Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.” Jonah 2:10
“He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:6
Apply: Bring the whole family to the Resurrection service tonight.
The silence of Saturday is the silence before the shout: the Lord who went down among the dead is about to rise.
Bury the old self with him, renew your promises, and come to the Uyirppu with your lamp lit.
Take-home resolution: Today, keep part of the day in silence, renew your baptismal promises, find your baptism date, and bring your family to the Uyirppu.
Dear friends, today is the day of the great silence. The Lord lies in the tomb. The disciples hide in fear. Only Mary waits in faith. And yet the Church says that today something tremendous is happening: Christ goes down among the dead to seek Adam and all his children.
We read again of Abraham and Isaac. Isaac came down the mountain alive, as if received back from the dead. Abraham believed that God could even raise the dead. Today we wait with that same faith.
Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me.” Jesus said: as Jonah was three days in the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth. Death has swallowed him, but it cannot keep him.
Paul tells us that we are part of this story. When we were baptised, we were buried with Christ, so that we might rise with him and walk in newness of life. Today we renew our baptismal promises. We say no again to Satan and his works, and yes to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And the Gospel already lets us hear the morning: the earth shakes, the stone is rolled away, and the angel says, “He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.” The Risen Lord sends us to all nations, and promises: “I am with you always.”
So let us keep this day quietly, prepare our homes and our hearts, and come tonight to the Uyirppu, all of us, even the sleepy children. The bridegroom is coming. Amen.
Children, today Jesus is resting in the tomb. The church is quiet, like a house waiting for someone special to come home.
When you were baptised, you got new life from Jesus. Ask your parents today: on what day was I baptised?
Tonight we will hear the best news ever: Jesus is risen! Get ready to sing Alleluia!
Lord Jesus Christ, today you rest in the tomb, and the whole earth keeps silence. You went down among the dead to seek Adam and all his children, and death could not hold you. We were buried with you in Baptism; raise us with you to newness of life. Keep us faithful in the waiting, like Mary your Mother, and let the light of your Resurrection fill our homes and our hearts. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.
Great Saturday is the day of the closed tomb, and the Church spends it listening. Each reading goes down into death and comes up again. Isaac climbs Moriah carrying the wood and walks down alive. Jonah sinks to the roots of the mountains and is given back to the dry land. Paul tells the baptized that they were buried with Christ so that they might walk in newness of life. Matthew then opens the tomb and sends the disciples out to all nations. The line runs from a father's obedience on a mountain to the Son's command on a mountain, and its key words are third day, buried and raised.
Setting.
This is the hardest test in the story of Abraham. God had promised him descendants as many as the stars (15:5), and after long years of waiting that whole promise rested on one boy, Isaac (21:12). Ishmael has already gone away with Hagar (21:14). Now God asks for Isaac too. The narrator tells us at once that this is a test, so we know what Abraham does not know.
Jewish tradition calls this chapter the Akedah, “the binding”, from the verb used in v. 9. It is read in the synagogue at the New Year and holds a great place in Jewish prayer. Christians and Jews alike receive it as a sacred text, and we read it with respect. 2 Chronicles 3:1 places the Temple on “Mount Moriah”, so later readers saw this mountain as the place of Israel's worship.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac;” (22:3)
The same Abraham who argued with God over Sodom (18:22–33) now says nothing. The narrator gives us only his hands at work: the saddle, the wood, the road. Everything he feels is left unsaid.
“Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.” (22:6)
The father keeps the dangerous things, and the son bears the wood. Origen, preaching on this verse, sees here a figure of Christ carrying his own cross (in substance).
“Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”” (22:8)
Isaac's question in v. 7 is the most painful line in the chapter. Abraham's answer is an act of faith spoken in the dark. When the moment comes, the animal in the thicket is a ram. The question about the lamb stays open until John the Baptist says, “Here is the Lamb of God” (John 1:29).
“for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (22:12)
Paul seems to echo these words when he writes of the Father: “He who did not withhold his own Son” (Romans 8:32). What God stopped Abraham from doing, he did not spare himself.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism sees here the last stage in the purifying of Abraham's faith: the father of believers is “conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son” (CCC 2572). The Letter to the Hebrews says that Abraham “considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead” and, figuratively speaking, received Isaac back (Hebrews 11:19). That is why this chapter belongs to this day. Abraham had told his servants, “we will worship, and then we will come back to you” (22:5). He had more hope than he knew.
Setting.
The Book of Jonah tells of a prophet who ran from God's command to preach at Nineveh, and who was thrown into the sea. Just before this reading comes the verse that Jesus will take up: “Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (1:17). In the Hebrew Bible that verse is numbered 2:1, so the numbers in chapter 2 differ by one between Hebrew and English.
The prayer is a psalm of thanksgiving, full of the language of the Psalter. What is striking is its place: Jonah gives thanks while he is still inside the fish, before he has seen the shore.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” (2:2)
Prayer can reach God from a place that seems beyond every prayer. No depth is too far for him to hear.
“I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.” (2:6)
Read on Great Saturday, this verse goes far beyond Jonah. The Church thinks of Christ among the dead, breaking those bars from within.
“But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!” (2:9)
“Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.” (2:10)
The word is blunt and a little comic. The sea monster that seemed to be Jonah's end was God's way of saving him all along. Jonah did not rescue himself; God spoke.
How the Church reads it.
Jesus takes this story as a sign of himself: “so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). The Catechism names “the sign of Jonah” when it speaks of the Lord announcing his Resurrection (CCC 994). On the descent to the dead it teaches that Christ went down as Saviour, proclaiming the good news to the spirits imprisoned there (CCC 632), and it quotes the ancient homily for this day: “Today a great silence reigns on earth” (CCC 635). Mar Aprem, in his Nisibene Hymns, lets Death itself complain of the one who came down to Sheol and emptied it (in substance).
Setting.
Paul writes to the Christians of Rome, a Church he did not found, probably from Corinth around AD 57. He has just said that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (5:20), and someone might conclude that sin does no harm. His answer does not begin with a rule. It begins with a memory: “Do you not know?” What happened to you at the font settles the question.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (6:4)
Burial is the sign that a death is real. Paul calls the font a tomb, and today of all days the Church knows what a tomb is. The purpose clause matters: all of this is “so that” we might walk in a new way.
“We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” (6:6)
“The body of sin” does not mean that our flesh is evil. It means the whole person as held in the grip of sin.
“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” (6:9)
Lazarus came back to a life that would end again. Christ's rising is of another order (CCC 646).
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (6:11)
This is the first command in the chapter, and it is a command about how to see ourselves. Grace comes first, and then the call to live what grace has done.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this passage when it explains that the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him and rises with him (CCC 1227). The instruction given to the newly baptized at Jerusalem, handed down under the name of St Cyril, compares the three immersions to the three days of the Lord in the tomb (in substance). In the Church's earliest centuries the great night of baptism was the night of Easter, so that the candidates could go down into the water at the very hour of the Lord's rising.
Setting.
Matthew has prepared this chapter. An earthquake shook the ground at the death of Jesus (27:51), and another now shakes it at the tomb. The chief priests and Pharisees had asked Pilate for a guard (27:62–66), and those guards now shake with fear. The Gospel that opened with the name Emmanuel, “God is with us” (1:23), will close on “I am with you always”. The whole of the chapter is read today: the Church hears the end of the story before she keeps the night of the Resurrection.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” (28:8)
Fear and joy go together. Matthew does not separate them, and Easter faith often begins this way.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”” (28:10)
My brothers: these are the men who ran away. The first word he sends them is a word of family. He sends them back to Galilee, where it all began.
“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (28:17)
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (28:18)
These words recall the son of man of Daniel 7:14, to whom dominion was given. The authority for the mission comes from him, not from the disciples.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (28:19)
One “name” and three Persons. Christians are baptized in the name, not the names, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (CCC 233). The nations now come within the blessing promised to Abraham's offspring (Genesis 22:18).
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (28:20)
Matthew tells of no ascension. The book ends with Jesus present and staying.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism places the Church's missionary mandate on these verses (CCC 849). It also notes that the women were “the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles themselves” (CCC 641). The presence promised in v. 20 is what the Church lives on: Christ is present in his word, in the sacraments and above all in the Holy Qurbana, and in the Church when she prays (Sacrosanctum Concilium 7).
Did God really want Abraham to kill his son?
No. The narrator says from the first line that this is a test, and God stops the knife. Scripture condemns child sacrifice as abhorrent (Deuteronomy 12:31), and of such offerings God says through Jeremiah, “which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind” (Jeremiah 7:31). The chapter teaches total trust in God and shows that God provides. It gives no one any permission to harm a child in God's name.
What did Christ do in “hell”?
Here the word means the abode of the dead, Sheol or Hades, where the just of old were waiting. The Catechism says that Jesus did not go there to deliver the damned or to destroy the hell of damnation, but to set at liberty the just who had gone before him (CCC 633). The Saviour went to the lowest place of human loss, so that the good news might reach every age.
Matthew 28:15 says the story is “told among the Jews to this day”. How should we read it?
Matthew records a rumour current where he wrote, and he names who began it: some leaders and some soldiers, on one morning. He does not blame the Jewish people, then or now, and neither may we (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597). The first witnesses of the Resurrection, the women and the apostles, were themselves Jews.
In many Syro-Malabar parishes this day brings the blessing of new fire and new water and the renewal of baptismal promises, while the service of the Resurrection is held late tonight or before dawn; follow your own parish timetable. Today's epistle gives the meaning of those promises: we renew what happened at the font, when we were buried with Christ. Jonah is close to our people as well. Our tradition keeps the three-day Rogation of the Ninevites, the Moonnu Nombu, before the Great Fast, and the prophet who was given back from the depths now stands beside the tomb of the Lord as his sign.