Holy Saturday Vigil Mass

[Roseeurekacross]

It is early Holy Saturday here atm.

Tonight is a big Vigil Mass.
A fire is lit outside.
Everyone gets candles.
New people are welcomed into the Church.
Supper afterwards.

What is this all about? How do the elements tie in.
I imagine we are procesding after our Bishop again, this time outside to a fire?

And is it the normal Vigil Mass for a Sunday,
Or Vigil until the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Thanks.

 

[pianistclare]

onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/prep-eastervigil.html

 

[FrDavid96]

…

What is this all about? How do the elements tie in.
I imagine we are procesding after our Bishop again, this time outside to a fire?

Yes, there should be a fire outside.

And is it the normal Vigil Mass for a Sunday,
Or Vigil until the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Thanks.

Can you clarify the question, please.

I’ll attempt anyway:

Yes, it is the Easter Vigil Mass. Can we call it the “Resurrection Vigil Mass”? I suppose we could. I don’t see any difference between calling it one or the other.

No, it won’t be a “normal” vigil Mass. You already know that because we don’t usually have a fire outside, so that alone makes it different. There is a great deal about the Easter Vigil Mass that makes it different from a typical Sunday Vigil Mass. A whole lot is different. I think you already know this, so that’s why I don’t quite understand your question.

 

[Nelka]

I remember going to the Vigil Mass one year where the church was right next to a petrol station so they had a small pot with the fire in it.

 

[FrDavid96]

I remember going to the Vigil Mass one year where the church was right next to a petrol station so they had a small pot with the fire in it.

Wise decision.

 

[Phemie]

I remember going to the Vigil Mass one year where the church was right next to a petrol station so they had a small pot with the fire in it.

Ours is usually set up in a charcoal bbq. Keeps everything off the ground and contained. In our case the gas station is directly across the street.

 

[FrDavid96]

A few years ago, I started to use a concrete planter.

Looks much more dignified than a BBQ grill, and costs about the same.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

Yes, there should be a fire outside.

Can you clarify the question, please.

I’ll attempt anyway:

Yes, it is the Easter Vigil Mass. Can we call it the “Resurrection Vigil Mass”? I suppose we could. I don’t see any difference between calling it one or the other.

No, it won’t be a “normal” vigil Mass. You already know that because we don’t usually have a fire outside, so that alone makes it different. There is a great deal about the Easter Vigil Mass that makes it different from a typical Sunday Vigil Mass. A whole lot is different. I think you already know this, so that’s why I don’t quite understand your question.

My questions are:

1. What the fire and the candles are about.
2. The term ’ vigil’ . We usually have Saturday Night Vigil Mass choices for people who cant attend Sunday , and also here Priests are able to get around the rural churches to celebrate Masses between Saturday Night/ Sunday, with staggered Vigil Mass timing, (for travel).
   (We have the Flying Doctors, probably should have Flying Priests).

So the term Easter Vigil Mass - is it the same as Saturday Night Vigil Masses ie will it also count as usual Sunday attendance.
Or is it a Vigil to represent waiting for Our Lord’s Resurrection.

Or something completely different.
In my rural church, Mass does spill outside , esp in 40 degree heat in Summer. It is a very old heritage small Church, no fans, no heating, no modern air con. 3 windows that were built in a manner that they dont open that safely.

Alas if I knew…

I am giving out candles tonight and thought it might help to understand it all.
Having just come back recently, after decades away. I dont remember doing this as a small child in the 60’s.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/prep-eastervigil.html

Thanks.

 

[Phemie]

My questions are:

1. What the fire and the candles are about.
2. The term ’ vigil’ . We usually have Saturday Night Vigil Mass choices for people who cant attend Sunday , and also here Priests are able to get around the rural churches to celebrate Masses between Saturday Night/ Sunday, with staggered Vigil Mass timing, (for travel).
   (We have the Flying Doctors, probably should have Flying Priests).

So the term Easter Vigil Mass - is it the same as Saturday Night Vigil Masses ie will it also count as usual Sunday attendance.
Or is it a Vigil to represent waiting for Our Lord’s Resurrection.

Or something completely different.
In my rural church, Mass does spill outside , esp in 40 degree heat in Summer.

Alas if I knew…

I am giving out candles tonight and thought it might help to understand it all.
Having just come back recently, after decades away. I dont remember doing this as a small child in the 60’s.

The first thing you need to understand is that what the usual Saturday evening Mass is not a vigil Mass, although people call it that. It’s simply the Mass of Sunday, celebrated on Saturday.

There are only 8 true Vigil Masses.
Vigil of Christmas
Vigil of Epiphany
Vigil of Easter,
Vigil of Ascension
Vigil of Pentecost,
Vigil of St. Peter and St. Paul
Vigil of St. John the Baptist
Vigil of Assumption

Those are Masses celebrated on the eve of those feasts. They have different prayers and different readings from the Mass of the Feast itself. If one of those feasts is a Holy Day of Obligation where you live, attending the Vigil of the feast would satisfy your obligation.

The best known of those Vigils is the Vigil of Easter. It’s totally different from a regular Mass. It starts with the lighting of the new fire, the preparation, blessing and finally lighting of the Paschal candle, and the entrance into a darkened church lit only with the light from the Paschal candle.

Once in the church the light from the Paschal candle will be passed on to everyone via those candles you will be passing out.

Then the Paschal Candle will be set in place and most likely incensed. Then you will hear the Exsultet!, the proclamation of Easter followed my many readings and psalms. There may be baptisms or receptions into full communion (baptized Christians becoming Catholic), a renewal of Baptismal Promises, and so on.

It is a beautiful liturgy!

 

[jimkhong]

It is early Holy Saturday here atm.

Tonight is a big Vigil Mass.
A fire is lit outside.
Everyone gets candles.
New people are welcomed into the Church.
Supper afterwards.

What is this all about? How do the elements tie in.
I imagine we are procesding after our Bishop again, this time outside to a fire?

And is it the normal Vigil Mass for a Sunday,
Or Vigil until the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Thanks.

This year’s Year A’s Lent readings illustrate the link very well:
3rd Sunday - Samaritan Women at the well, the theme of water for salvation
4th Sunday - Man born blind, the theme of light to enlighten the world
5th Sunday - Raising of Lazarus, the theme of life and resurrection from the dead

The midnight mass differs from normal mass in that it has two rites in addition to the usual Liturgies of the Word and of the Eucharist: The Liturgy of Light and the Rite of Baptism

The mass starts with the Liturgy of Light, when the sacred fire is lit. From the blessed fire, the priest light the Paschal candle. We get a new Paschal candle every Easter, to symbolise the new beginning that the catechumens will enter and those baptised will be renewed into. The Paschal candle with the year (2017) and alpha & omega (first & last letters of the Greek alphabet, meaning the eternalness of Jesus) inscribed on it, and more so the light emanating form it, symbolises Jesus. The lit Paschal candle is then lowered into the water, blessing it into Holy Water, to be used for the baptism. We light our candles for the first time from that Paschal candle as the priest/deacon sings the Exsultet, which tells of the night that we are about to celebrate.

The elements having been established, we then settle down for an extended Liturgy of the Word. Instead of only one reading from the Old Testament, we get seven. This is the oldest set of readings in the Church and is part of the Salvation History. In a way, it is our origin story, the way many tribes and peoples of the world have theirs. The catechumens hear the story of the people that they are joining before they get baptised. We then hear the New Testament readings, especially the Gospel story that made all of us Christians. We light our candles to hear the Gospel story as we receive the enlightenment that can only come from Jesus.

After that the catechumens get baptised. Baptism is usually by pouring water over the head but lately more Catholic churches have started to adopt the more ancient baptism by submergence. Basically, when a person is submerged under the water, he dies: we say that the sinner dies and a new Christian emerges to new life from under the water. As I always tell the children, when the Israelites passes through the Red Sea (3rd reading from the Old Testament for the night), it is the baddies (the soldiers) who died and the good people (the Israelites) who lived.

I hope this ties it all up for you - the elements of water, light and life as in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sunday in Lent. And you can now follow the liturgy with more clarity.

 

[pnewton]

Heck, we have our fire inside and the ceremony is awesome!

The rubrics require that the Easter candle be lit from a living fire I believe. (not a lighter or match) At least that is what we were told. That is why most sane people do it outside.

On the other hand, it is probably as safe as processing in with candles in a dark Church.

 

[pianistclare]

I’ll have to post a picture of our typical fire tomorrow.
Enormous.
The boy scouts build us a thatch of dry twigs and branches that is about 6 ft high.
The fire roars and lights the entire parking lot from the field…we ask the power company to turn off the street lights and parking lots lights, so it’s extra dark. We have Knights of Columbus with flashlights so people don’t trip over curbs going out there. .

 

[FrDavid96]

My questions are:

1. What the fire and the candles are about.

Those are all about the Light of Christ. I could write a whole book about that (I promise I won’t). It’s too much to explain in a post like this.

**When you see the fire and the candles on Saturday night: allow the ritual to speak to you. You will understand what I mean by that once it happens. **

1. The term ’ vigil’ . We usually have Saturday Night Vigil Mass choices for people who cant attend Sunday , and also here Priests are able to get around the rural churches to celebrate Masses between Saturday Night/ Sunday, with staggered Vigil Mass timing, (for travel).
   (We have the Flying Doctors, probably should have Flying Priests).

So the term Easter Vigil Mass - is it the same as Saturday Night Vigil Masses ie will it also count as usual Sunday attendance.
Or is it a Vigil to represent waiting for Our Lord’s Resurrection.

A Vigil Mass is nothing more than a Mass during the night which celebrates the feast day happening the next calendar day. Remember that in the biblical understanding of a day, the transition from one day to the next happens at sunset (not morning, not midnight). The early Christians would gather for Mass during the night-time on what we would call Saturday night–which to them was the beginning of Sunday. Then, in the morning would go back to their homes or to their places of work.

Any Saturday night Mass can be called by the term “Vigil Mass.” Vigil Masses can happen on any Sunday, and on many of the great Feast Days (Christmas, Pentecost, etc.) even if they aren’t on Sundays.

The Easter Vigil Mass is unique. It is a very special Vigil Mass that is unlike any other. First, it’s the most special and most important. Likewise, the ceremony of the Mass is unique to that particular night. The format of the Mass is going to be very different from a typical Sunday Mass (whether that’s Saturday evening or Sunday morning).

Or something completely different.
In my rural church, Mass does spill outside , esp in 40 degree heat in Summer. It is a very old heritage small Church, no fans, no heating, no modern air con. 3 windows that were built in a manner that they dont open that safely.

Alas if I knew…

I am giving out candles tonight and thought it might help to understand it all.
Having just come back recently, after decades away. I dont remember doing this as a small child in the 60’s.

I’d rather not tell you about it. You really should experience it first. You will benefit more from it that way. It isn’t a secret; you can read the ritual yourself in books or online, but I don’t recommend doing that until you’ve lived it at least once.

After Easter, come back here to CAF and share your thoughts. I’m sure people here would like to read them!

 

[jimkhong]

1. The term ’ vigil’ . We usually have Saturday Night Vigil Mass choices for people who cant attend Sunday , and also here Priests are able to get around the rural churches to celebrate Masses between Saturday Night/ Sunday, with staggered Vigil Mass timing, (for travel).
   (We have the Flying Doctors, probably should have Flying Priests).

So the term Easter Vigil Mass - is it the same as Saturday Night Vigil Masses ie will it also count as usual Sunday attendance.
Or is it a Vigil to represent waiting for Our Lord’s Resurrection.

Technically, it is not correct to say that the Saturday midnight mass is an alternative for Easter Sunday morning mass. Both are different masses, unlike on a normal Sunday where Saturday evening mass and Sunday morning are the same masses, with the same readings.

Easter itself, which liturgically starts on Saturday sunset, has four masses: (i) evening mass, (ii) midnight mass; (iii) dawn mass (iv) mass of the day. Each of these four masses are intended for different times and have different readings. If you string all four Gospel readings together you get a single Easter narrative from John, from the initial realisation of the empty tomb to Jesus meeting Mary Magdalen on Sunday morning.

Masses (i) and (iii) are not often celebrated as parish masses while Masses (ii) and (iv) are usually celebrated part of the Triduum. Still, I guess the practicalities are that people who have been working hard for the midnight mass may find hard to return early next morning for mass again.

In my country because of the high church attendance, we are unable to accommodate everyone at one mass, we end up with two Vigil masses and two Easter Sunday morning masses. I believe such a practice is not allowed in US. One previous parish priest even celebrated all four different Easter masses over the two evening and two morning masses. While it is his right, I feel it gets confusing as the community gets different readings. But then again most Catholics don’t even realise they are different readings.

Another aspect different in my country is the blessing of multiple Paschal candles, a practice i understand not allowed in US. This is because we have rural mission centres to which the priest may then send the candles for mass/communion service. A rural parish can have up to 100 mass centres.

This year, our new parish priest is cleaning things up a bit (liturgically) by having the baptism only at the second Vigil mass (I guess the first vigil mass at 6pm cannot be called a midnight mass). This makes the second Vigil mass exceptionally long as we normally have >100 adult baptism every Easter. The first will be short and so we can guess which one will be more crowded - with even time for a late dinner after that.

It is interesting how the rubrics of the Church gets adapted to suit different circumstances through out the world.

 

[paperwight66]

Heck, we have our fire inside and the ceremony is awesome!

On the other hand, it is probably as safe as processing in with candles in a dark Church.

I’m so glad to hear of another parish that has its fire inside!

We’ve tried having it outside, but what with the unreliable weather here is North West England, and also the preference of the mere senior members of the congregation wanting to be seated ready for the Mass. not to mention how long it takes to get people in as they have to go slowly because the pews are so close together, we stopped.

Instead, our Deacon constructed a burner out of a gas cylinder under a fancy brazier, so he can tiptoe forward in the dark and light it in an instant. It is really dramatic.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

It was a fine night. Candles, darkness, light, new Catholics, amazing singers yet again. I think they are chanters. They sung parts of the prayers. Packed Cathedral. A fire outside that was used after Mass too , during the supper.

One small hiccup initially. Something set the fire alarm off in the Cathedral. Fire trucks and firies arrived pretty fast. The kids loved this extra attraction. The Vigil started a little late, after the Bishop attended to the firemen and the trucks left

I love how the worship of God was a community activity , and interactive, and active. We were led outside, as a community lit a fire , lit candles, blessed new candles, as a community processed into a dark cathedral, with our candles, heard the noise of the community, young babies to the elderly.

It was very ritualistic in a different way. Beautiful, and perhaps exhibiting the splendid of the Church.
The Tridium events have been a bit of a breath of fresh air in interaction in a group worship of God.

 

[Heartoftexas]

Last night our Priest informed one of our Ushers that the Easter Vigil Mass does not excuse one from attending the Easter Sunday Mass. He said the Easter Vigil Mass is not the Sunday Mass. She was upset, as she has to work on Sunday. However, I looked it up. Canon Law says that if someone assists with the Saturday Mass they are excused from Sunday attendance if they need to work. It says nothing about Easter Vigil Mass.

So here is the question: Is the usher excused from attending Sunday? Did in fact the Easter Vigil Mass fulfill the Sunday obligation like a regular Saturday Mass in ordinary time, which uses the same readings as Sunday Mass. Or is the Priest correct – that this is not the same Mass. That the Holy Day of Obligation would not be met?

I also assisted with that Mass, so I too was surprised.

 

[pnewton]

Last night our Priest informed one of our Ushers that the Easter Vigil Mass does not excuse one from attending the Easter Sunday Mass. He said the Easter Vigil Mass is not the Sunday Mass. She was upset, as she has to work on Sunday. However, I looked it up. Canon Law says that if someone assists with the Saturday Mass they are excused from Sunday attendance if they need to work. It says nothing about Easter Vigil Mass.

So here is the question: Is the usher excused from attending Sunday? Did in fact the Easter Vigil Mass fulfill the Sunday obligation like a regular Saturday Mass in ordinary time, which uses the same readings as Sunday Mass. Or is the Priest correct – that this is not the same Mass. That the Holy Day of Obligation would not be met?

I also assisted with that Mass, so I too was surprised.

Here is Canon Law:

Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and aVairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

EWTN has this:
ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage.asp?number=327697

Dear Leon, Surely the faithful fulfill their Easter Sunday obligation with attendance at the Easter Vigil. Of course attendance at Mass on Easter Sunday is highly recommended too, but one need not attend under obligation. Fr. Bob levis

My own priest always specifically states that it does fulfill the Sunday Mass obligation.

 

[Phemie]

Last night our Priest informed one of our Ushers that the Easter Vigil Mass does not excuse one from attending the Easter Sunday Mass. He said the Easter Vigil Mass is not the Sunday Mass. She was upset, as she has to work on Sunday. However, I looked it up. Canon Law says that if someone assists with the Saturday Mass they are excused from Sunday attendance if they need to work. It says nothing about Easter Vigil Mass.

So here is the question: Is the usher excused from attending Sunday? Did in fact the Easter Vigil Mass fulfill the Sunday obligation like a regular Saturday Mass in ordinary time, which uses the same readings as Sunday Mass. Or is the Priest correct – that this is not the same Mass. That the Holy Day of Obligation would not be met?

I also assisted with that Mass, so I too was surprised.

Well, it’s not the same Mass, that is true. But Canon Law says this:

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

Did the usher assist (that means “attend”) at a Mass in the evening of the day preceding Easter? Yes. OK, then she met her obligation to attend Mass on Sunday.

In this case the priest is wrong.