This Week's Feasts and Saints

Holy Saturday - The Vigil of Vigils

But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, “There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for hr has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee; that is where you will see him.” Look! I have told you.”
Matthew 28: 5-8

Saturday was the only day of the week when Our Blessed Lady was without her beloved Son. This is why on Saturday, when no other feast is being celebrated, an Optional Memorial Mass of Our Lady on Saturday can be celebrated.

Holy Saturday – note, not “Easter Saturday” - shares much in character with Good Friday. Apart from frenzied preparations for the Vigil the church is cold and bare, continuing the ancient tradition no sacraments are celebrated, if possible the Paschal fast is continued until the Vigil itself and again Holy Communion may only given as viaticum to those approaching death. Apart from the Easter Vigil, Mass is never celebrated on Holy Saturday. The Lord lies in the tomb. The Church waits for the dawn of the third day.

There is only one liturgical action on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil – but, properly celebrated, it is the most beautiful, inspiring and moving ceremony in the Church’s year – as befits the Vigil of vigils celebrated “ ... on this most holy night, when our Lord Jesus Christ passed from death to life, the Church invites her children throughout the world to come together in vigil and prayer.” (Opening prayer of the Vigil). The Easter Vigil must always begin after dark on Holy Saturday and must end by dawn on Easter Sunday morning.

The Vigil begins with the church in complete darkness and all who can assembled outside around the Easter Fire. This is blessed and the Paschal Candle that has been carried from the church is prepared and lit from the fire – Christ is risen! It is then carried into the darkened church stopping three times, as the cross did on Good Friday. At each stopping place the priest or deacon carrying the candle proclaims that Christ is our light “Lumen Christi”, to which all respond, “Thanks be to God” – “Deo Gratias”. After the second stopping people begin to light the candles that they have been holding from the Paschal Candle, passing the flame from person to person so that it becomes one light, divided but undimmed.

When the Paschal Candle reaches the sanctuary it is placed in its stand and is honoured with incense. The Easter Proclamation or Exsultet is then said or sung. This is a long hymn that reminds those present of the importance of what we celebrate on that night – the Vigil of vigils when we literally share in the bodily resurrection of Jesus:

“This is our Passover feast, when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when you first saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their slavery and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us had Christ not come as our Redeemer?”

The second part of the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of the Word – a sequence of seven readings from the Old Testament telling the story of humanity's fall from grace and redemption, with psalms and prayers. The sequence of readings concludes with a reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans and the appropriate Gospel for the year. The readings used are as follows:

· Genesis 1: 1-2: 2

· Genesis 22: 1-18

· Exodus 14: 15-15: 1

· Isaiah 54: 5-14

· Isaiah 55: 1-11

· Baruch 3: 9-15, 32-4: 4

· Ezekiel 36: 16-17a, 18-28

· Romans 6: 3-11

· Matthew 28: 1-10, or Mark 16: 1-7, or Luke 24: 1-12

The purpose of the readings is, as the prayer that comes before them urges us: “Let us now listen attentively to the word of God, recalling how he saved his people throughout history and, in the fullness of time, sent his own Son to be our Redeemer.” After the final reading from the Old Testament, from the prophet Ezekiel, the Gloria is sung and the bells in the church are rung. The reading from the Gospel is followed by the homily.

The third part of the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of Baptism and the focus of action switches from the ambo to the font which has been refilled. The Paschal Candle is taken from its stand and brought to the font. The Litany of the Saints is said or sung. The priest says the prayer of blessing part of which reflects on the ways in which water has featured in the history of humanity’s salvation:
“In baptism we use your gift of water, which you have made a rich symbol of the grace you give us in this sacrament. At the very dawn of creation your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness. Through the waters of the Red Sea you led Israel out of slavery, to be an image of God’s holy people, set free from sin by baptism.

In the waters of the Jordan your Son was baptised by John and anointed with the Spirit.
Your Son wiled that water and blood should flow from his side as he hung upon the cross.
After his resurrection he told his disciples: “Go out and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.””

The end of the Paschal Candle is then dipped into the water three times while the priest asks for God’s blessing: “We ask you, Father, with your Son to send the Holy Spirit upon the waters of this font. May all who are buried with Christ in the death of baptism rise also with him to newness of life.”

This is followed by the renewal of baptismal promises during which all present are invited to reject sin and to profess their faith. Following this, as a reminder of their own baptism, people are invited to come to the font, to the newly blessed water, and to bless themselves with it by making the sign of the cross.

The fourth and final part of the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of the Eucharist which, apart from special prayers for the night, is identical to the Liturgy of the Eucharist at a Sunday Mass. At the end of the Easter Vigil the people are dismissed with a double “Alleluia” – the Easter Vigil is the first time that the word will have been used in any of the Church’s liturgies since before the start of Lent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Saturday

https://www.christianiconography.info/entombmentManOfSorrows.html

https://www.christianiconography.info/harrowing.html

The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord ~ Easter Sunday.

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and we don’t know where they have put him.” So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen clothe lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.
John 20: 1-9

The fifty days from the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated with joy and exaltation as one feast day, indeed as a 'great Sunday'. These are the days above all others in which the Alleluia is sung. General Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar, 22.

We know that Christ has truly risen from the dead. Yes, Indeed! This is the fundamental core of the profession of our faith; this is the cry of victory which unites us all today. And if Jesus is risen, and is therefore alive, who will ever be able to separate us from him? Who will ever be able to deprive us of the love of him who has conquered hatred and overcome death? The Easter proclamation spreads throughout the world with the joyful song of Alleluia. Let us sing it with our lips, and let us sing it above all with our hearts and our lives, with a manner of life that is "unleavened", that is to say, simple, humble and fruitful in good works. The Risen One goes before us and he accompanies us along the paths of the world. He is our hope. He is the true peace of the world. Pope Benedict XVI.

Almighty and ever living God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection, may. through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life.

Saints and Feast Days this week.

Beginning Sunday, 20th April 2025, the Solemity of the Resurrection of the Lord.