"According to ancient tradition, this is a night of candle in honor of Lord and the vigil that takes place in it, commemorating the holy night in which the risen Lord is to be regarded as "the mother of all holy vigils." During the vigil, the church expected the Lord's resurrection and celebrates the sacraments of Christian initiation. " "All of the Easter Vigil celebration must be done overnight. Therefore not be chosen nor so early that the Vigil begins before the start of the night, not long after it ends after dawn on Sunday. This rule must be strictly construed. Any abuse or contrary custom has been introduced, which signifies the celebration of the Easter Vigil at the time which usually take place the evening before Sunday Mass should be reproved. "
Didascalia In the Apostles we read: "All night long abide together in community, do not sleep, pass the whole night awake, praying and praying, reading the prophets, the psalms and the Gospel fear and trembling, in a climate of incessant appeal to the third watch of the night, after the Saturday after ... Offer your sacrifice. Rejoice then, eat, rejoice with joy and rejoicing because Christ is risen, as a token of your resurrection. " It may not be possible to make a total wakefulness in many parishes and Christian communities, but at least it would be reduced too much the duration of the vigil. In a society that night holiday celebrations are common, are we afraid to spend a night vigil with the Lord Jesus in his passage from death to life?
Vigil celebration
"The Easter Vigil is structured as follows: after the skylight and the Easter Proclamation (which are part of the first part of the Vigil), Holy Church contemplates the wonders God has done for his people since the beginning (part or Liturgy of the Word), to which, together with new members reborn by Baptism (third), is invited to the table prepared by the Lord to his people memorial of his death and resurrection, awaiting his second coming (fourth). Nobody is allowed to change at will the structure of the rite. "
On the structure of the Easter Vigil is good to keep in mind:
A. PART ONE: THE SKYLIGHT
- The right place for the skylight is outside the Church. Be prepared, a good fire (and not a small fire), for the blessing of new fire, whose light must be such as to dispel the darkness and illuminate the night.
- Prepare the Paschal Candle, which for the accuracy of the sign, must be of wax (not fictional), again each year (Easter is new and therefore should not be used Paschal candles from previous years), relatively large, so you can recall that the Lord Jesus light of the world. The blessing of the Paschal Candle will be done with the signs and words given by the Missal.
- be ordered from there the procession to the Church. The Paschal Candle is ahead, the people following the Paschal Candle on, during the procession is to be the only on. Just as the children of Israel in the wilderness, at night, were led by a pillar of fire, and Christians follow the risen Christ.
- At the door of the church, faithful individuals are lighting their candles from the Paschal Candle. It is a very expressive symbol of Christ's Passover Easter must also be ours, and all are called to share in his Light and Life.
- The procession enters the church to the cheers of Christ: "Light of Christ. Thanks be to God," and the lights of the temple was gradually going on.
- the first part concludes with the solemn singing of the Easter Proclamation: The "Exultet." It is a beautiful lyrical announcement of what will be the party tonight. A invitatory to the delight of the whole cosmos and the community, because it is the night life and Final Reconciliation.
B. PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORD
- This holy night, the readings are very careful consistency between them. They are presented as a key to understanding the Lord Jesus and the mystery and to understand the whole story of salvation from Christ. The close proclaim the Paschal Candle, symbol of Christ, and highlights it.
- "At the Easter Vigil of the Holy Night, proposed seven Old Testament readings which recall the wonders of God in salvation history, and two readings of the New, namely, the announcement of the resurrection as the three synoptic Gospels and the apostolic reading Christian baptism as the sacrament of the resurrection of Christ "The readings are accompanied by a psalm or song of meditation, which enhances their central idea in an atmosphere of prayer. Each block of reading and concludes with a prayer song. These sentences are very old, dating from S. VII and are taken from the Sacramentary Gelasian. Thus the structure of the Liturgy of the Word takes on a dialogue: God takes the initiative in the history of salvation, which reveals his plan of love is upon us and as it has been deployed throughout history. And we welcome your initiative to salvation, the Word of life and meditate on the heart following the example of Mary, the great helper of the plans of God and the hearer of the Word par excellence.
- Completion of the Old Testament, and to emphasize the passage from the Old to the New Testament, the singing of the hymn "Gloria" as they ring the bells, light the candles on the altar (which should be more numerous than usual) and placed flowers on the altar. After the singing of "Gloria", the priest says the opening prayer.
- Hence all take a seat and read the Epistle. At the end of it all stand and the priest intones three times the "Hallelujah", gradually raising his voice and repeating the assembly. The singing of "Hallelujah" may be repeated several times by assembly as a psalmist sings Psalm 117. Follows the announcement of the resurrection of the Lord's Gospel reading, the culmination of the entire liturgy of the Word. After have a brief homily.
C. PART THREE: BAPTISMAL LITURGY
- After listening to the Word of God, we celebrate the Easter sacraments. The mystery of the Passover of the Lord Jesus that we have proclaimed the readings and with which we have entered into communion by an attentive ear and a host of faith, we will now celebrate the sacramental signs.
- A sense of convenience pastoral tell each community if appropriate time watch it at night, to celebrate a baptism, especially adults. For kindergarten children, should take into account their situation and their relatives, to perhaps book the celebration of this sacrament for the morning Mass on Easter Sunday.
- Currently, the structure of the baptismal celebration: a.
The litany of the saints (if there will be baptism), invoking its protection over the to be baptized, and added to the list some more specific to the local Church, and also reflecting the names that will be imposed on the baptized . The litanies are sung standing, not kneeling. B.
Blessing Water: the long if baptismal font, and the short if there is not, nor will it have baptisms. Rather than bless water, bless God as Love in the history of salvation made by water, from the creation and passage through the Red Sea to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, today also asking water through his Spirit of life acting upon the baptized and the Church. This invocation of the Spirit can make the priest, if it sees fit by entering one or three times the Paschal Candle on the water. C.
Must eventually baptism (and confirmation when it is for adults who are baptized). D.
The whole community, with candles New hands on in making the renewal of baptismal promises, remembering one's baptism. E.
In this renewal is followed by the gesture of the spray, with a baptismal song. It is a symbolic gesture then for every Sunday of the year, but on Easter Sunday can be repeated as initial rite of the Eucharist which replaces the penitential rite.
f. The baptismal rite concludes with the universal prayer, with which the Christian people, starting with newly baptized adults, exercise "baptismal priesthood."
D. PART FOUR: THE EASTER EUCHARIST
- The Christian community, lit by the Word, rejuvenated by the baptismal water or memory, is now sitting at the table of the Passover holiday, which the Lord invites you to participate in his Body and Blood. With the Eucharist we end the fast of Lent: Jesus gives himself as food of eternal life to his Church.
- The Eucharist is the climax of the entire memorial. Everything up to this point should be brought to this direction, growing in intensity, "the celebration of the Eucharist is the climax of the vigil because Easter is the sacrament par excellence, the memorial of the sacrifice of the Cross, the presence of the risen Christ, the consummation of Christian initiation and foretaste of the eternal Easter " .
- Therefore "we must be very careful so that the Eucharistic liturgy is not made in haste. It is desirable that all the rites and words that accompany them achieve all their expressive power: the prayer of the faithful ... the procession of offerings, which should involve the neophytes, if any, the eucharistic prayer first, second or third, preferably sung, with its own embolism, Eucharistic communion, which is the moment of full participation in the mystery being celebrated "
" In the end before "you can go in peace, alleluia, alleluia" should be added, although not propose Missal, the singing of the "Regina Caeli" or another greeting Mother of the Risen One, heading toward his image. The song can be introduced with the following or similar words:
Easter Day in the Christian community, addressing the Mother of God, invited her to rejoice: Queen of Heaven, rejoice Hallelujah! So remember the joy of Mary and the resurrection of Jesus, and continues over time the "Rejoice!" to him by the angel at the Annunciation, to become the "cause of joy for all humanity. Salute to Mary our Mother singing the Regina Caeli.
Sources: Catholic University of Puerto Rico
TOP
0 comments:
Post a Comment