THE LORD DESCENDS INTO HELL

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

Scrutatio 

 for 

HOLY SATURDAY

MORNING LITURGY

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Job 14: 1 – 14 / Psalm 31: 1–5 / 1 Peter 4: 1 – 8 / Mark 15:42-47

    THE GREAT VIGIL 

1^ST PROPHECY

Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 8:8-18 and 9:8-13

Psalm 46

2^ND  PROPHECY

Genesis 22:1-18

Psalm 33:12-22, or Psalm 16

3^RD PROPHECY

Exodus 14:10-15:1

Exodus 15:1-18

4^TH PROPHECY

Isaiah 4:2-6

Psalm 122

5^TH PROPHECY

Genesis 1:1—2:2 or 1 and 26-31a

Isaiah 12:3-6 or Psalm 42:1-7

6^TH PROPHECY

Ezekiel 36:24-28

Psalm 42:1-7 or Isaiah 12:3-6

7^TH PROPHECY

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm 30, or Psalm 143

8^TH PROPHECY

Zephaniah 3:12-20

Psalm 98 or Psalm 126

Epistle: Romans 6:3-11

Psalm 114

Gospel: Mark 16:1-7

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

1^ST PROPHECY

Genesis 1:1-13 and 2:1-2 

Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 or 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13 and 20-22 

2^ND  PROPHECY

Genesis 5-8

Psalm 

16:5+8, 9-10 and 11

3^RD PROPHECY

Exodus 14:15-15:1

Exodus 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 17-18

4^TH PROPHECY

Isaiah 54:5-14

Psalm 30:2+4, 5-6 and 11-12a+13b

5^TH PROPHECY

Isaiah 55:1-11

Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd and 5-6

6^TH PROPHECY

Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4

Psalm 19:8, 9, 10 and 11

7^TH PROPHECY

Ezekiel 36:16-17a and 18-28

Psalm 42:3, 5; 43:3 and 4 or 51:12-13, 14-15 and 18-19

Epistle: Romans 6:3-11

Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17 and 22-23

Gospel: Mark 16:1-7

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

1^ST PROPHECY

Genesis 1:1—2:2 

2^ND  PROPHECY

Genesis 5-8

3^RD PROPHECY

Genesis 22:1-19

4^TH PROPHECY

Exodus 14:24-31 and 15:1

Tract: Exodus 15:1-2

5^TH PROPHECY

Isaiah 54:17 and 55:1-11

6^TH PROPHECY

Baruch 3:9-38

7^TH PROPHECY 

Ezekiel 37:1-14

8^TH PROPHECY

Isaiah 4:1-6

Tract: Isaiah 5:1-2

 

9^TH PROPHECY

Exodus 12:1-11

 

10^TH PROPHECY

Jonas 3:1-10

 

11^TH PROPHECY

Deuteronomy 31:22-30

Tract: Deuteronomy 32:1-4

 

12^TH PROPHECY

Daniel 3:1-24

 

Epistle: Colossians 3:1-4

Alleuia, Alleluia, Alleluia 

Psalm 118:1

Tract: Psalm 117:1-2

 

Gospel: Matthew 28:1-7

 

ANTIPHON

Alleuia, Alleluia, Alleluia 

Psalm 117:1-2

VESPERS

Luke 1:46-55

From an ancient 4^th A.D. Homily from the Greek Liturgy:

THE LORD DESCENDS INTO HELL 

 

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

THE POWER OF CHRIST'S BLOOD

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

Scrutatio 

 for 

GOOD FRIDAY

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 / Psalm 22:1-21 / Hebrews 10:1-25 / Mark 15:1-47

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Isaiah 52:13—53:12 / Psalm 31:2+6, 12-13, 15-16, 17 and 25 / Hebrews 4:14-16 and 5:7-9 / John 18:1-19:42

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Prophecy: Hosea 6:1-6

 Tract: Habakkuk 3

Lesson: Exodus 12:1-11

Gradual: Psalm 140:1-9 and 13

 Tract: Psalm 22:1-8, 18, 21, 23, and 30-31

Passion

John 18:1-40 and 19:1-42

FOR THE REST OF THE LITURGY

From an excerpt of the the Catechisis written by John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Byzantium/Constantinople from 398–404 AD:

THE POWER OF CHRIST'S BLOOD

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.

There flowed from his side water and blood. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh! As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.