Jump to Any Step (30 of 36 · Click to Expand All 36 Days & Exercises)
01. The Presupposition & How to Enter the Exercises02. Principle and Foundation03. The Daily & Particular Examen04. Meditation with the Three Powers on the First, Second & Third Sin05. Meditation on Personal Sins & The Exclamation of Wonder at God’s Mercy06. Repetitions of the First & Second Exercises with the Triple Colloquy07. Meditation with the Five Senses on Ultimate Separation08. The Call of the Temporal King & The Oblation to the Eternal King09. The First Contemplation: The Incarnation10. The Second Contemplation: The Nativity & Application of the Five Senses11. The Presentation in the Temple & The Flight into Egypt12. The Hidden Life at Nazareth & Finding the Boy Jesus in the Temple13. Meditation on the Two Standards & Second Week Rules for Discernment14. Meditation on the Three Pairs of Men15. Departure from Nazareth & Baptism in the River Jordan16. Christ Fasting & Tempted in the Desert17. The Call of the Apostles & The Wedding at Cana18. The Sermon on the Mount19. Calming the Storm & Walking on the Waters20. Sending the Apostles, The Sinful Woman Forgiven, Feeding the 5,000, The Transfiguration & Preaching in the Temple21. The Raising of Lazarus & The Supper at Bethany22. Palm Sunday: The Humble Entry into Jerusalem23. The Three Manners of Humility24. Making an Election25. The Last Supper, Washing the Feet & The Agony in Gethsemane26. Betrayal, Arrest & The Night at the Houses of Annas and Caiaphas27. Christ Before Pilate & Before Herod28. The Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns & ‘Ecce Homo’29. Carrying the Cross & The Crucifixion30. The Descent from the Cross, The Burial & The Silence of Holy Saturday31. The Resurrection: Christ Appears to His Mother & to Mary Magdalene32. The Road to Emmaus, The Appearance to St. Peter & The Upper Room33. St. Thomas’s Confession & Breakfast by the Sea of Galilee34. The Great Commission & The Ascension of Christ Our Lord35. Contemplation to Gain Love36. The Three Methods of Prayer
Movement III · The Third Week (The Passion) · Step 30 · Week 3, Days 6 & 7
St. Ignatius of Loyola · Exx. 208–217, 298

The Descent from the Cross, The Burial & The Silence of Holy Saturday

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking down the sacred Body into Mary’s arms, anointing Him with a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, rolling the stone across the new garden tomb, and keeping vigil in the great silence of Holy Saturday (plus Ignatius’s Rules on Eating).

Assigned Scripture Reading (NIV) & Mystery Points

Scripture Reading: John 19:38–42 · Luke 23:50–56 · Matthew 27:57–61

John 19:38–42 (NIV)
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Luke 23:50–56 (NIV)
50Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Matthew 27:57–61 (NIV)
57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Points of the Mystery from St. Ignatius

Step 1 · Entering the Hour (2 Minutes)

Before You Start

Read John 19:38–42 and Luke 23:50–56. Stand a step or two from your place of prayer for an Our Father (Exx. 75), reverence the Lord, and pray the Preparatory Prayer (Exx. 46).

Step 2 · Orienting the Heart & Imagination (5 Minutes)

The Preludes

First Prelude · The Narrative (Exx. 208, 298)

Recall how as Friday evening falls, two secret disciples—Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus—find their courage, ask Pilate for the Body of Jesus, gently draw the nails, lower Him into His Mother’s arms, wrap Him in clean linen with myrrh and aloes, and lay Him in the new rock tomb in the garden.

Second Prelude · Composition of Place

See Golgotha in the quiet twilight after the crowds have gone home; the garden tomb hewn in the rock nearby; the heavy round stone rolled across the entrance; and the small house in Jerusalem where Mary, John, and the women sit in the stillness of Holy Saturday.

Third Prelude · Asking for What I Desire (Exx. 193, 203)

Ask for tears, compassion, and quiet fidelity to remain with Our Lady beside the buried grain of wheat.

Step 3 · The Body of the Exercise (30–40 Minutes)

How to Pray the Burial & Holy Saturday ( Plus Ignatius’s Rules on Eating)

On the Sixth and Seventh Days of the Third Week (Exx. 208–217), everything grows quiet:

1. The Descent from the Cross & Burial in the Garden (Exx. 298)

  • SEE & WATCH: See Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus—men who had once been too timid to confess Jesus openly (John 19:38)—now stepping forward publicly when everyone else has fled, bringing a royal hundred-pound gift of myrrh and aloes. Watch them climb the ladders, gently draw out the nails, and lower the silent, wounded Body into Mary’s lap (the Pietà).
  • Make yourself a poor servant once more (just as you did at the manger in Bethlehem in Step 10!): help wash the blood from His hands and feet, help wind the clean linen cloth around Him, help carry Him into the cool rock tomb in the garden, and watch the great stone roll shut.

2. Keeping Vigil on Holy Saturday — The Loneliness of Our Lady (Exx. 208)

  • Ignatius invites us to contemplate “how the most sacred Body of Christ our Lord remained separated and apart from the soul, and where and how it was buried,” and to sit with Our Lady in her grief and fatigue on Saturday.
  • Notice what Holy Saturday is in the spiritual life: it is the ‘in-between’ space after something old has died, before the new life of Resurrection has yet appeared. Everyone else has given up hope; in Mary’s heart alone, the lamp of faith stays lit through the dark Sabbath.
  • Reflect on yourself: Where in your life or prayer are you in a ‘Holy Saturday’ season right now—called simply to wait in faithful stillness without forcing an outcome?

3. Ignatius’s Eight Rules for Order in Eating (Exx. 210–217)

At the very end of the Third Week, Ignatius attaches his remarkably practical Eight Rules for Order in Eating (Exx. 210–217). Why right here? Because after remembering the Last Supper and the thirst of the Cross, we want even our daily meals and bodily care to be ordered in temperate freedom:

  • Rule 1–3: Simple, coarse food is less tempting, whereas on delicate foods we must be more watchful; yet avoid any extreme fasting that ruins bodily strength for serving God.
  • Rule 4 & 5 (The Master Secret, Exx. 214): “While one is eating, let him consider as if he saw Christ our Lord eating with His Apostles, and how He drinks and how He looks and how He speaks; and let him procure to imitate Him. So that the principal part of the intellect be occupied in the consideration of our Lord, and the less in the sustenance of the body.”
  • Rule 8 (Exx. 217): To conquer any disorder around food, decide on your portion beforehand while you are not hungry (after prayer or after a meal), and when mealtime comes, simply keep what you resolved without renegotiating with your appetite!
Step 4 · Friend to Friend & Looking Back (15–20 Minutes)

Colloquy, Post-Prayer Review & Repetitions

1. The Colloquy (5 Minutes)

Sit quietly beside the sealed garden tomb or beside Mary in the Upper Room. Thank the Lord for going all the way down into death and the grave for you. Close with an Our Father.

2. The Post-Prayer Examen of Prayer (15 Minutes · Exx. 77)

After finishing the Our Father, remain quiet for ten to fifteen minutes (sitting or walking slowly) to examine how your prayer went. Ask: Where did my heart feel warmed, expanded, drawn to trust, or moved to tears (consolation)? Where did I feel dry, distracted, defensive, or negotiating with God (desolation or resistance)? Write down two or three honest sentences in your notebook.

3. Repetitions & Carrying the Mystery Through the Day

You have completed Movement III: The Third Week. Tomorrow at dawn begins Movement IV: The Fourth Week—where the stone is rolled away and you pray for a completely new grace: to be glad and rejoice intensely at the great glory and joy of Christ our Lord!

Primary Text · From St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises (Exx. 208–217, 298)
[208] On the Sixth Day, from the Cross to the Monument, exclusive; and thus, making use of the same distribution on the Seventh Day, the consideration of the whole Passion is taken together in the Exercise of midnight and of the morning; and in place of the two Repetitions and of the Sense-exercise, to consider during the whole of that day, as frequently as one is able, how the most sacred Body of Christ our Lord remained separated and apart from the soul, and where and how it was buried. Likewise to consider the loneliness of Our Lady, whose grief and fatigue were so great; then, on the other hand, that of the Disciples. [214] Fifth Rule. The fifth: While one is eating, let him consider as if he saw Christ our Lord eating with His Apostles, and how He drinks and how He looks and how He speaks; and let him procure to imitate Him. So that the principal part of the intellect be occupied in the consideration of our Lord, and the less in the sustenance of the body, that thus he may take greater concert and order in the way he ought to behave and govern himself.
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