#45 The Communion Rite Part 5: Communion in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

I have already discussed the celebration of the Paschal (Passover) Mystery in the Mass (HERE). But again briefly, Christ calls us to "pass over" from sin and selfishness to a new life of sacrificial, self-giving love. He has made this passover from Death to Resurrection for us and this we call his Paschal (Passover) Mystery. The heart of this Mystery is the Dying and Rising of Christ.
 

"The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life." (Catechism #645)
 

We are immersed in his Paschal Mystery at our Baptism and the pattern of our Christian life is to die to sin and selfishness and rise up to live a life of sacrificial love. (The word "Baptism" means "immerse" or "wash" in the original Greek)
 

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4)
 

Now we are unable by our own power to live the Paschal Mystery. We find it very hard to die to sin and selfishness. But the good news is that living the Dying and Rising of Jesus is not meant to be accomplished on our own. Baptism unites us to Christ and the Holy Spirit is given to us to empower us to live the life of Christ. As the Catechism reassures us:
 

"Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us... We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model:
 

"We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and his mysteries and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole Church. . . For it is the plan of the Son of God to make us and the whole Church partake in his mysteries and to extend them to and continue them in us and in his whole Church. This is his plan for fulfilling his mysteries in us." (#521)
 

The life of Christ is both a gift and a task given to us. A gift in that Christ lives in us. A task on our part to be continually cooperative with his life in us. Even in this "the Spirit helps us in our weakness." (Romans 8:26)
 

Now it makes sense that when we receive the Crucified and Risen Christ in Holy Communion, we are also receiving his life, his Paschal Mystery within us. As quoted already, the Catechism associates the Paschal Mystery with the liberation of sin and the opening up of a new life. (Catechism #645) In the words of Consecration over the wine, recall that the blood of Christ is "poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins." This is one of the "fruits" of Holy Communion, as taught by the Church:
 

"Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us," and the blood we drink 'shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.' For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins:
 

" ‘For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord's death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.’(St. Ambrose)" (Catehism#1393)
 

Note: If one is in serious sin, one should go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion." (For more on this go HERE)
 

When we receive Holy Communion, therefore, we can call to mind that we are being put in communion with the Dying and Rising of Christ, his Paschal Mystery, which includes the forgiveness of sin and the beginning of the new life, the Risen life, of Christ in us.
 

Next week: The Communion Rite Part 6: Communion in the Love of God.
 

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#33. The Offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

Now the Light of the Resurrection Illumines the Sacrifice of the Cross

After the Consecration of the Bread and Wine and their transformation into the Risen Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, and after the Memorial Acclamation and Memorial Prayer (proclaiming the Paschal Mystery that Christ has died and risen), next comes the Offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass. This is referred to also the Oblation (from the Latin for "offering a sacrifice").

Recall that at the Consecration Christ is Really Present in his Crucified and Risen Body and Blood, that is, in his entire self. Present also is his Death and Resurrection which is proclaimed after the Consecration. We can say Christ himself is the Oblation: he offered his entire self, body and blood, soul and divinity on the Cross and was wholly raised from the dead in his Resurrection.

In the Mass as we offer what God has given us: the whole Christ, we as members of his Body the Church are also offered to God.

 

The Sacrifice of the Mass is united to the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and his Resurrection. Or we may say, as the Catechism does: "The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice" (#1367)

The Priest acting in the person of Christ the Head of his Church is consecrated to make the One Sacrifice of Christ present on the Altar by the word of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. (See Catechism #1375 HERE) But the People of God are also present as the Body of Christ the Church. They also offer the Sacrifice of Christ in offering themselves as a "spiritual sacrifice." (See Romans 12:1-2 HERE)

What this means is that the Priest makes present by the Holy Spirit the sacramental Sacrifice of the Eucharist (under the appearance of the Consecrated Bread and Wine). This sacramental Sacrifice is one with the Sacrifice of Christ. Thus the Priest can offer up this sacramental Sacrifice in the form of the Eucharist.   The People of God are a Royal Priesthood in virtue of their Baptism through and with the Priest  also offer their gifts and lives as part of this One sacrifice of Christ.

So the Catechism states:

"The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire....In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with his offering." (#1368)

Is this not beautiful and awesome in its implications for each and all of us? We become part of Chrsit’s One Sacrifice made in love for us. We become part of his love, his self-giving, sacrificial love given for all times. He died once only on the Cross; but his sacrificial love is eternal.

 

This also why before the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, as is permitted, I make a brief exhortation for all present to remember and give thanks to God for all God’s gifts to us. And to offer those gifts and ourselves to be joined to the One Sacrifice of Christ in his Dying and Rising."

 

Again the Catechism states:

"Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born - all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives." (Catechism #901)

 

At the Mass, and especially at the Oblation Prayer, we are to offer everything we have and are and experience to be transformed and made part of this Sacrifice of Christ, an expression of love and self-giving in the Holy Spirit. Whatever we do that is not worthy of this Sacrifice, that is sinful and therefore unloving, must be repented and forgiven or healed. This takes most us a life-time. The Eucharist reminds us, Sunday by Sunday, the "standard" by which we are called to live: Christ Jesus who gave himself for us on the Cross in sacrifial love and in his Resurrection we see that this kind of love never ends.

 

Finally, we do not offer something apart from the Sacrifice of Christ as if we could somehow win favor or merit salvation on our own. No; Christ is the One who offers an acceptable sacrifice to God because he can offer himself totally in God’s love. Our offerings are because of this first love and perfect Sacrifice to which we are united in Baptism and which we express in worship in the Eucharist. Thus the Sacrifice of Christ is the fountain from which we draw the "living water" of the life of Christ and are able to make sacrifices and show love as a result.

Here, then, are examples of these Oblation Prayers in the Four Eucharistic Prayers I-IV in the Roman Rite:

Eucharitic Prayer II
 

"Therefore, as we celebrate

the memorial of his Death and Resurrection,

we offer you, Lord,

the Bread of life and the Chalice of salvation..."

Eucharitic Prayer III

"Therefore, O Lord...

we offer you in thanksgiving

this holy and living sacrifice."

Eucharitic Prayer IV

"Therefore, O Lord...

we offer you his Body and Blood,

the sacrifice acceptable to you

which brings salvation to the whole world."

Eucharitic Prayer I

"Therefore, O Lord...

we, your servants and your holy people,

offer to your glorious majesty

from the gifts that you have given us,

this pure victim,

this holy victim,

this spotless victim,

the holy Bread of eternal life

and the Chalice of everlasting salvation."

A Note on the use of the word "Victim." The original meaning of the Latin word "victim" referred to a living being sacrificed to the gods (or later the One God). Thus a victim in this religious sense referred also to the oblation or the sacrifice itself. Christ, then, is this kind of "victim" in his sacrificial offering of himself.

Since the victim of such a sacrifice suffers death, it is easy to see how the word "victim" came to mean also a person who suffers at the hands of another, unwillingly and oppressed. Jesus was also a victim in this sense, though his act of offering himself was a free one, but the violence shown him was unjust and unwelcome (see HERE)

Next Week: The Prayer for Unity in the Eucharistic prayer.

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#32 The Memorial of the Passover of Christ & the Offering of the One Sacrifice in the Mass. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

 

This reflection also includes descriptions of the Three Paschal Holy Days which we celebrate this week and which also celebrate the Passover Mystery of Christ.

The entire Mass celebrates the Passover Mystery of Christ (aka the Paschal Mystery; Paschal is the adjective of Passover and of Easter). You may read about the associations of the Jewish Passover which are fulfilled in Christ’s Passover in last week’s reflection (HERE). The entire salvation that God offers to us in Christ Jesus is summed up the central reality of the Paschal Mystery: the Dying and Rising of Christ. Consequently, in union with Christ through Baptism and in following him, we are called to this dying an rising spiritually in this life, and physically in the life of heaven.

The Jewish Passover is a "covenant meal," celebrated once a year For more on "Covenant" see HERE). The Passover of Christ and his New Covenant are celebrated whenever the Mass is celebrated. The Eucharist is the "Paschal Banquet" of the Church. (see Catechism #1323 HERE)

 

On the evening of Holy Thursday Lent ends and the Three Paschal Holy Days begin. This celebration commemorates the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples and the gift of his Eucharist to us. The First Reading of this liturgy recalls the Passover of the Israelites. The Gospel proclaims: "Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." (John 13:1) At the last Supper, which anticipates his Death and Resurrection. The Eucharist remembers how Jesus loves us, summed up in a new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) This is a sacrificial love and a love that serves as Jesus demonstrates in washing the feet of his disciples, an act of a servant. The Church uses the details of John 13 to proclaim the meaning of the Eucharist for all times through the ministry of Priests and the participation of the entire Church.

After the Consecration at Mass, the Eucharistic Prayer has a Memorial Acclamation (the "Mystery of Faith") and continues with what is called the Memorial of the Paschal Mystery (technically called by its Greek name "anamnesis") and the Offering of the One Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass.

The Memorial is the Spirit-filled remembrance that really makes present the Death and Resurrection of Christ in the Eucharist. In a way this Memorial Prayer is revealing the meaning of the words of Jesus in the Consecration.

Every Eucharistic Prayer has a specific Memorial prayer of the Paschal Mystery. Every Eucharistic Prayer also has the Offering of the One Sacrifice on the Cross and Christ’s Resurrection made sacramentally present on the Altar. (This "offering’ should not be confused with the "Offertory" which occurs before the Consecration and is preparing the gifts of bread and wine for Consecration and Offering)

There are three options for the Memorial Acclamation, the "Mystery of Faith," after the Consecration:

1. "We proclaim your Death, O Lord,
      and profess your Resurrection
      until you come again."

2. "When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup,
     we proclaim your Death, O Lord,                     [the Resurrection is implied]
     until you come again."

3. "Save us, Savior of the world,
    for by your Cross and Resurrection
    you have set us free."

The Memorial Prayer of Eucharistic Prayer III is quite good as a summary of what we are doing in the Mass:

"Therefore, O Lord,

as we celebrate the memorial
of the saving Passion of your Son,
his wondrous Resurrection
and Ascension into heaven,
and as we look forward to his second coming,
we offer you in thanksgiving
this holy and living sacrifice."

Holy Thursday is actually a vigil for Good Friday and calculating time in the Jewish manner, i.e. where a day is calculated as including the evening before, Holy Thursday and Good Friday make one day, the First Day of the Paschal Three Days. It is fitting that the evening of Holy Thursday and Good Friday are linked together. The Lord Jesus gave us the new commandment to love one another on Holy Thursday evening at his Last Supper. This love, which is sacrificial and all-giving, is demonstrated by his Passion and Death on the Cross: "[S]ince he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us ‘to the end,’ even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love..." (Catechism #1330) On Good Friday we have the Veneration of the Cross whereby we embrace the sacrificial love of Christ in our lives which the Cross represents, even if we may have to suffer as he did in this life. We would normally have this Veneration of the Cross at 3pm on Good Friday (the hour Christ died; see Matthew 27:45). However, so that more people can attend the Good Friday Service we have it at 7pm at Holy Faith.

The Son of God could not have suffered and died for us on the Cross if he had not taken our flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. He is thus fully God and fully human. He came to die for our sins and as a result of our sins. Thus he suffered our greatest suffering: our experience of death and its loss. Then he was buried in the Tomb.

The Second Day of the Paschal Three Days is Holy Saturday. No Liturgy is celebrated on this day, except Morning Prayer, because on "Holy Saturday the Church is, as it were, at the Lord's tomb, meditating on his passion and death, and on his descent into hell, and awaiting his resurrection with prayer and fasting." (Paschales Solemnitatis #73) This is a day for deep silence and reflection, pondering all the times in life when everything seems "dead and buried."

　

There is no Cross without the Resurrection and no Resurrection without the Cross. In times past the Church focused more on the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross present in the celebration of the Mass and not so much on the Resurrection of Christ. The Memorial of Christ’s Paschal Mystery after the Consecration is a constant reminder of the unity of Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

What role does the Resurrection have in the Christian life? It is the promise and experience of transformation in our lives. It is a radical newness, what St. Paul calls "a new creation." It is in the spiritual sense the promise that darkness will give way to light, death will give way to life, sorrow will give way to joy. Since the Cross tells us that Christ died for us out of sacrificial love,

the Resurrection tells us that this sacrificial love never ends, for Chris himself did not come to an end at his death, and neither shall we.

As one author asserts: "And it is what Jesus’ resurrection means that really matters. For what it means is that if Jesus rose from the dead, so will we. If he overcame the trials, sufferings and hardships of his life, so will we. As he left his tomb, so too can we leave our tombs of sadness, loneliness, addiction, abuse, depression, anger, anxiety, worry, jealousy, envy, and whatever else weighs us down in our daily lives. As Jesus tells us in Scripture: ‘Have courage, I has overcome the world.’" (From Catholic Webprofessor)

 

The Third Day of the Paschal Three Holy Days is the close of Holy Saturday with the night celebration of the Easter Vigil and the start of Easter Sunday. The Easter Vigil is unique of all the liturgies of the Church. It is reminiscent of the night vigils of the early Church when Christians would gather and light the night lamps and read Scriptures and await the coming of the Lord Jesus. At the Easter Vigil we light the Paschal Candle which represents Christ our Light. We bring it into the darkened church and light the candles of the Assembly. An ancient hymn is sung (the Exultet) introducing this Vigil. We then hear a number of Scripture readings about creation and salvation, including about Baptism and then the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. On this night we baptize adults and older children who have been preparing for this. We Confirm them and share the Eucharist with them for the first time. It is a night of joy, to say the least and of great beauty. The following morning at dawn, the Mass of the Resurrection is celebrated. It was early before dawn that Christ rose from the dead. Other Easter morning Masses follow. As on the night before at the Easter Vigil, the People gathered for the Easter Masses renew their Baptismal promises and also unite with the risen Christ in the Eucharist.

Next Week: The Offering of the One Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass in more detail.

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# 26 The Sacrifice of the Mass. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

 

The Mass re-presents the One Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross which also includes his Resurrection from the dead. There is no Cross without the Resurrection and there is no Resurrection without Christ’s death on the Cross. His Dying and Rising are called his Paschal Mystery or Passover Mystery.

Catechism #654: "The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life."

The meaning of Christ’s Sacrifice is the total gift of himself in Divine and Human love to God the Father for our salvation. As humans we had sinned and still do. Sin is the refusal to love as God loves; our healing is the superabundance of Christ Jesus’ love offered on the Cross and "this love is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us." (Romans 5:5) Therefore Christ’s Death and Resurrection saves us through the forgiveness of sins. It is this love shown on the Cross which the Resurrection reveals will never end.

Catechism #616: "It is love ‘to the end’ that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life [on the Cross]."

It takes a life-time (including eternal life) to comprehend these "mysteries" of the Cross and Resurrection and the love re-presented to us through the sacraments. (A sacrament is a visible sign of the invisible life of Christ and the grace he gives us to share in his life). It is in the sacramental celebration of the Mass that we have "primary contact" with the Dying and Rising of Christ. We are united to Christ’s One Sacrifice in the Mass.

But how does the Mass unite us to the One Sacrifice of Christ? How can we say the Mass is a sacrifice when there is only One Sacrifice of Christ? If the Mass is the sacrament of this One Sacrifice, how is this Sacrifice made visible in the way sacraments make visible something which is invisible?

It is easy to misunderstand the Teaching of the Church about "the sacrifice of the Mass." The Mass is a sacrifice, but what it is re-presenting is the One Sacrifice of Christ.

Catechism #1104: "Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present."

Christ is not eternally dying on the Cross, but historically his offering of himself on the Cross was the way he made visible at the time his act of total love and worship of the Father. Now he is Risen from the dead and ascended to heaven where he continues to offer his humanity in love to God in the Spirit. Nothing has to be made visible in heaven; but here on earth we still need a visible expression of the One Sacrifice and that is what the Sacrament of the Mass does.

Catechism #614: "This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices."

 

Let us look at this more closely because in our day we don’t always appreciate the sacrificial nature of the Mass:

(1) A sacrament makes Christ’s life visible. The visible or physical elements of the Eucharist are the Bread and Wine offered in the Mass. Through the Consecration of the Bread and Wine the Risen Body and Blood of Christ become Really Present on the altar. As Christ gave himself to us on the Cross, so he gives himself to us in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

(2) There are words that always accompany a sacrament. In this case the words are those of Christ at the Last Supper: "This is my Body which will be given for you...this is my Blood which will be shed for you..." The Priest repeats a version of these words. Notice that the words of Christ are sacrificial language: his body given, his blood shed.

(3) There is also an action that accompanies a sacrament. In this case in the Mass it is Christ himself, acting through the ministry of the Priest, who offers his One Sacrifice, the Gift of his life and love. In the Sacrament of his Sacrifice in the Mass, Christ personally gives himself and his life and love to us and for us, for our salvation. He still says, as he said at the last Supper, "Take and eat this, this is my Body...Take and drink this, this is my Blood..."

(4) A sacrament gives us grace, i.e. a share in the life of Christ in his union with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. A sacrament unites us to the life of Christ. In the case of the Mass, we are given grace to make our own self offering, to be united to the One Sacrifice of Christ.

Catechism #1368: "In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with his offering."

(5) Finally, a sacrament reminds us how we are to live in Christ. In Mass, we are reminded that we are called to share Christ’s sacrificial love in this world. We are members of his Body the Church and he said at the Last Supper, "A new commandment I give you: love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) Thus there is a secondary sign made visible at the Mass: His Body the Church. He gives us his Body and Blood in the Mass so that we can be his Body the Church, his Family (his Blood or kin). We are then to make his love visible in the world.

 

Next Week: "The Consecration of the Eucharist."

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#24. What We Give Thanks For in Mass. The Eucharistic Prayer. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

 

 

 

 

In my last post I wrote how the Mass calls us to a lifestyle of gratitude, thankful for the gifts God has given us in love. We hear in the opening Dialogue of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer the Priest say "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God." The People say "It is right and just." I wrote how then the Preface prays to God: "It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord."

 

What follows in the Preface is itself a thanksgiving to God which is why the Preface is also called the Thanksgiving. What this Preface does is give the reasons why we thank God, for what we thank God. We must also understand that the Priest is praying both for the Church and with the Church and also proclaiming the reasons for thanksgiving. Notice that after the Opeing Dialogue of the Eucharistic Prayer, which is an exchange between the Priest and People, the Preface next speaks to God (as "Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God").

 

The Thanksgiving Preface follows the ancient Jewish pattern of prayer where (1) one invokes God, then (2) gratefully proclaims what God has done, typically in creation and in the saving deeds of God and then (3) makes petition to God. The Jewish pattern of prayer, then, first praises and thanks God and then asks for something.

 

 

 

In the Thanksgiving of the Preface we (the Church) go on to state the reasons we thank God in this Eucharist (root word means "thanksgiving"). I also wrote last week a suggestion in preparing for Sunday Mass that we make a list (on paper, or digitally or mentally) of the things we want to thank God for in the Thanksgiving of the Eucharist.

 

 

 

When the Thanksgiving is prayed in the Preface, we unite our personal thanks (silently) to the "cosmic thanksgiving" of Christ himself. We join our thanks to the Liturgy’s thanksgiving typically for creation and for the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The Paschal Mystery refers to the entire life of Christ lived for us and now in us: "Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us." (Catechism #521)

 

You may read more about the Paschal Mystery HERE, but the essence of the Mystery is the Death and Resurrection of Christ and his Coming again in glory.

 

Consider this Preface of Eucharistic Prayer II which focuses upon both creation and the Paschal Mystery:

 

"It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy,

through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ,

your Word through whom you made all things,

whom you sent as our Savior and Redeemer,

incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin.

Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people,

he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion,

so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection."

 

Common Preface V (one of the prefaces that can be used on Week days) states the Paschal Mystery in its simplest summary:

 

"His Death we celebrate in love,

his Resurrection we confess with living faith,

and his Coming in glory we await with unwavering hope."

 

The Eucharistic Preface sometimes focuses on some aspect of the Paschal Mystery/life of Christ which is celebrated in one of the Liturgical Seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter. For example, this is a Christmas Preface we pray:

 

"For in the mystery of the Word made flesh

a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind,

so that, as we recognize in him God made visible,

we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible."

 

 

 

By having our often humble thanks united to the Great Thanksgiving of the Eucharist, we are "elevated," our hearts truly are lifted up the Lord, and we are given a very dignified role of joining heaven’s eternal Thanksgiving as we will see in next week’s post about the Sanctus.

 

Next Week: Joining the Heavenly Liturgy in the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) of the Eucharistic Preface.

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#14 The Homily in the Liturgy of the Word. Understanding the Mass and Its Parts.

After the Gospel is proclaimed all sit and the Ordained Minister preaches a homily.

Homily comes from the Greek word meaning "a familiar conversation." The homily was originally given in the early Church as a kind of informal preaching, which would make sense for the usual small gatherings of Christians to worship.

 

Like the proclamation of the Scriptures where Christ speaks to us, his People the Church, so he also speaks through the preacher. Catechism #888 teaches us that "Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task ‘to preach the Gospel of God to all...’ in keeping with the Lord's command. They are ‘heralds of faith, who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers’ of the apostolic faith ‘endowed with the authority of Christ.’"

The preacher is the instrument that Christ uses to convey his message, but the preacher is an imperfect instrument and his weaknesses can impede that message as much as his strengths can enhance it. Yet still Christ can speak to us in the homily because of what the homily is meant to do: "The homily is a mutual search by preacher and congregation–a seeking after the voice of God." (Thomas K. Carroll, Preaching the Word, p.43)

This official definition of a homily is typical: "The purpose of the homily is to explain the readings and make them relevant for the present day." (Liturgiae instaurationes 2,a)

Several other basic definitions found on the web are:

"Broadly speaking, a homily attempts to apply the message of the Sunday Scripture readings to the lives of the people."

"The purpose of the homily is to provide insight into the meaning of the scripture and relate it to the lives of the parishioners of the church."

 

All are in agreement that the homily must begin with the Scriptures that were just proclaimed in the liturgy and that the homily is not independent of the liturgy, as if we take a break in the Mass for some "Bible study" and then go back to the Mass which is to praise and thank God and offer the sacrifice of the Mass.

Sometimes it is helpful to know what the homily is not. It is not primarily teaching, Bible study, a lecture, or even what is very tempting in our culture: entertainment. A homily may very well contain elements of these things, but I find this quote instructive:

"The homily is not simply an explanation of the scriptures, the fruit of research into the best scholarship. Nor is it the drawing of a moral from the scriptures, nor using the scriptures to back up the latest need for school support or abortion law reform. Nor is the homily a great a great literary creation 'from nothing': the scriptures and eucharist are its beginning and its ending. The homilist helps the assembly appreciate the wonderful web that links word and sacrament and daily living." (Gabe Huck and Gerald T.Chinchar, Liturgy with Style and Grace, p.50)

Just like the rest of Mass, the homily is meant to facilitate an encounter with the living Christ, Jesus who is the Word made flesh, the revelation of the life of God as a loving communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are invited into this communion, this "exchang of love." (See Catechism #221 HERE)

Second, the homily also nourishes the "religious imagination" of the People gathered for Sunday worship. We live mainly by our images of reality, more than by our intellect. These images usually carry a great deal of emotional meaning for us. But our images of God and his vision for our lives and our world can be accurate or distorted. Hearing the Scriptures and the preaching in the Liturgy of the Word, in the context of the Church’s Tradition, should give us the right images to nourish our relationship with God and the Church. (See more on this matter of imagination Here and HERE)

The U.S bishops document, "Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily" (issued January 2013) affirms the role of religious imagination in preaching:

"Jesus was not an abstract preacher but laced his preaching with rich images and provocative stories...

"But Jesus was not content simply to cite ordinary examples; there is in Jesus’ parables a quality of strangeness, something out of the ordinary, that grips the imagination and triggers wonderment on the part of the hearer."

Third the homily gives us a vision of how God wants our world to be like and calls us to be agents of change in our world, to begin to build what is Biblically called "the kingdom of God." Essentially, the Kingdom of God is the rule of God’s love. The homily explores what it would be like if we lived in that love and if that love changed the world into something infinitely better. Of course, this vision calls us to repent from whatever is unloving in us, i.e. sin.

Fourth, the homily, as part of the liturgy, points us implicitly and explicitly to how Jesus came to inaugurate God’s Kingdom of love by his Death and Resurrection. His Cross proclaims Christ’s sacrificial love for, which is how God loves us, and the Resurrection assures us that this love never ends.

Again the U. S. Bishops teach:

"Every homily, because it is an intrinsic part of the Sunday Eucharist, must therefore be about the dying and rising of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial passage through suffering to new and eternal life for us. By means of that pattern, the People of God can understand their own lives properly and be able to see their own experience in the light of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus." (ibid)

Lastly, the homily is meant to lead us into thanksgiving (Eucharist) and to offer ourselves with Christ’s One Sacrifice in the Eucharist–the service of his sacrificial love in dying and rising with him  and to be prepared to go out and live the faith proclained in Word and Sacrament.

"As part of the entire liturgical act, the homily is meant to set hearts on fire with praise and thanksgiving." (Ibid)

 

No homily can do all of this in less than 10 minutes! Which is again why it is important, moreover essential, that we attend Sunday Mass every Sunday. Only in this way will we progress in our understanding of how to live as God’s children in this world.

Next Week: The Creed

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#2A Why Do We Gather for Mass on Sunday? Series on Understanding the Mass and Its Parts

"Do Not let Sunday be taken from you for if your soul has no Sunday,

it becomes an orphan."

                                                                 --Albert Schweitzer

 

 

For almost 2000 years, since the Resurrection of Jesus on a Sunday, Christians as a whole have gathered to worship God together in the celebration of the Sunday Mass. We know this from evidence in the New Testament (See this CITATION). Also, early Church writings indicate that Sunday was the Day for the Church’s common and communal worship. For example, St Justin in 150 A.D. wrote:

"[I]t is on Sunday that we assemble because Sunday is the first day, the day on which God transformed darkness and matter and created the world and the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead" (First Apology, 67)

Justin goes on to say: "On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place [for the Eucharist]." (ibid)

Peering into Justin’s time, we can appreciate that those who lived in the country would have gone to some effort to get to Sunday Mass at the place it was celebrated in the city, especially if many were walking. (In the earlier days of the Church, many cities had one place only to gather, though larger cities like Rome had many places to gather, usually in larger homes.)

 



An wealthy Roman house could be quite large, like a mansion today, and so accommodate a large assembly for Sunday Mass in the 1st-4th centuries



Justin points out that Sunday is the Church’s communal day of worship because God created light on that day as well as the world and that it is the day Christ rose from the dead. But Sunday also celebrates the beginning of a new creation with the Resurrection of Christ, who, as we say in the Creed, is "Light from Light, true God from true God."

We are familiar that Easter Sunday celebrates the Day when Christ rose from the dead; but every Sunday also celebrates the Resurrection. More accurately, it celebrates the Death and Resurrection of Christ (we call this the Paschal Mystery [more on this HERE]) and the emphasis is especially on the Rising, the joy and new life brought about by Christ in conquering sin and death.

 

 

So naturally, the Church gathers on this Day to remind us that all our many times of dying to sin and selfishness over a week’s time is bringing us closer to the new life of Resurrection. We need this reminder every week, every Sunday.

Now here is the key to understanding why we must gather as a Church (of which each of us is a member) on Sunday. Why can’t we just individually stay at home on Sunday and read some Scripture passages and pray alone? It is because the Sunday Mass is a sacramental celebration, which means it is a visible sign of the life and saving love of God. That means we don’t just get a Sacrament at Mass (Jesus Really present in the Eucharistic bread and wine) but that God makes something visible about our life in Christ in the Sunday Mass.

Our life in Christ is not meant to be lived in isolation from others. That’s why Jesus gave us his Church. The whole Church is supposed to be visible on Sunday. We can’t make the Church visible by ourselves or alone; thus the whole Church is called to worship on Sunday. It is our obligation and our privilege. As the Catechism says: "But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone [i.e., apart from others]. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others." (#166)

 

 

Next Week: More about the importance of Sunday Mass

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Living the Risen Life Now

In the past two entries, I wrote about the nature of a Risen body and how we receive the Risen Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is very important to remember that we receive the whole Person of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist and not separate "parts" of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Now we are united to Christ in our Baptism. We are united to the Risen Christ in our Baptism. He renews our Baptism in him every time we celebrate the Eucharist, because it is the Crucified yet Risen Christ who is present to us in the Eucharist. Every time we receive Holy Communion which is receiving the Risen Christ, we are receiving and renewing the Risen life of Jesus in ourselves.

"On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Christ is risen!’ Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ." (Catechism# 1391)

This Risen life is not just reserved for after our death as Christians; we also share in the risen life of Christ now, but not fully as we shall after our physical death. St. Paul writes to the Church at Colossae:

"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3)

St. Paul is not writing at the time  to people who were physically dead! He is writing to Christians who were still living on this earth in a city of the First Century. Yet he says they have been raised up with Christ. Obviously, the Risen life begins in this life and will be completed in the next life, i.e., "the life of the world to come." This fulfillment will transform our earthly bodies to become like Christ’s Risen body. (See my entry "What Is a Risen Body" HERE)

During this past Lent I attempted to increase our parish’s knowledge of the Paschal (Passover) Mystery of Christ. The core of the Paschal Mystery is the Dying and Rising of Christ. In the above quote from St. Paul he also writes "you have died...". Again, he is writing to people still alive at that time, so this must be a spiritual death and it is. In Baptism we are spiritually (by the Holy Spirit’s agency) united to the Dying and Rising of Christ. (See Romans 6:1-11 HERE) The pattern of our life in Christ is to live the Paschal Mystery in our lives now.

Obviously the Rising part of the Paschal Mystery assumes the Dying part. The Catechism speaks of the Paschal Mystery in this way: "The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life." (Catechism#654)

In Lent, the Church particularly focuses on the Dying aspect of the Paschal Mystery; now in the Easter Season we focus on the Rising aspect of the Christian life. What does this entail?

 

We are pretty familiar with the Dying part of life and again not just physical death, but that death also. We live in a world described as having a "culture of death" (Pope St. John Paul II) In this world we know the feeling of dying present in suffering, in the burdens of sin, in egoism and selfishness, in sorrow, grief, fear, lack of forgiveness, lack of hope, and physical death itself, especially the violent deaths at the hands of others.

What would life be like if this was all there was in life? But in Christ’s Paschal Mystery we are given the hope and the power of the Resurrection to pass through the Dying to a new rising, a new life transformed by Christ. "I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10). So Christ’s Risen life moves us (sometimes pushes us) to pass from sin’s lack of love to divine love; from egoism to self-giving; from darkness to light; from grief to peace; from fear to courage; from lack of forgiveness to forgiveness; from lack of hope to undying hope; from physical death to the Resurrection of the Dead.

The Risen life gives us the strength to pass through the sufferings of our lives, to come through them to a place of healing (total healing in the life of the world to come).

Christ’s Risen life is always working within us to bring us to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.

Furthermore, it is the Holy Spirit, also given to us in our Baptism, who is the Personal power of the Risen life within us, along with Christ who is "the Resurrection and the Life." "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)

 

Next week I want to teach about why so many Christians don’t seem to live the Risen life, the rising part of the Paschal Mystery.

 

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The Celebration of the Paschal Three Holy Days

Note: You may want to read this teaching in sections: you can read each section for preparation for each celebration of the Three Holy Days.

There will be no Teaching entry next Friday due to the Triduum.

 

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                                                        Section I: Before the Three Holy Days

                                              of Holy Thursday Evening through Easter Sunday

 

The central celebration of the entire Church year is that of "The Three Days" or by its Latin name, "The Triduum." The Catechism states:

"Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a ‘year of the Lord's favor.’ The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated ‘as a foretaste,’ and the kingdom of God enters into our time." (#1168)

Since the Triduum begins on Holy Thursday evening (the end also of Lent) and goes through Easter Sunday evening, it would seem that there are 4 days in this celebration. These days, however, are not calculated in the modern way as a day is from one midnight to the next. Instead, according to ancient Jewish custom, the day is from one evening to the next. Thus, the First Day of the Three Days includes Holy Thursday evening and Good Friday. The Second Day is from Good Friday evening to Holy Saturday evening. Then at night on Holy Saturday, the Third Day begins with the Easter Vigil and includes Easter Sunday.

There is sometimes a false controversy over how long Jesus was in the tomb and this  also is a matter of how time is understood in the ancient Jewish culture. Jesus had said that he would be three days and nights "in the heart of the earth." (see Matthew 12:40). If he died on a Friday, as we commerote, how was he three days in the tomb if he rose before sun rise on Sunday (See John 20:1)? The solution is simple when we learn that according to Jewish custom any part of a day, however small, is included as part of a full day. So Jesus was in the grave on Frdiday (1st day), Saturday (2nd day) and when evening came on Saturday, and night followed, a third day, Sunday.

As we prepare for these Three Holy Days which are the Paschal Triduum, it will help us appreciate our celebration if we understand the Jewish Passover. "Paschal" refers to Passover (Pascha). The early disciples, like Jesus himself, were Jewish. And so the early Christians saw that Jesus is our Passover and fulfills every Passover feast:

"Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the [Paschal] feast" (1Corinthians 5:7-8)

What the Jewish Passover Celebrates

The Jewish Passover celebrates the Exodus (the Passage) of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt and into the Promised Land, an event thousands of years old. God liberated his People and brought them into a new life.

The Paschal (Passover) Mystery of Christ–primarily his passing over from death to life in the Resurrection–is described as having two aspects for us: "by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life." (Catechism #654) Sin is slavery; "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:33)

On the night before they were set free from this cruel oppression, each Israelite family was instructed to kill a lamb and smear its blood upon the doorposts of their houses. When the Angel of Death saw the blood, Death passed over the house. They were to eat an annual meal in remebrance.

The Chosen People then were led by Moses out of Egypt. They went through the Red Sea and entered the desert. There they received the Commandments of the Covenant, Mana from heaven for their hunger , and water from the rock for their thirst. Christians see all this as prefiguring Christ and his new People. Baptism corresponds to the passage through the waters; Christ brings a New Covenant in his blood; Christians eat the Bread of Heaven in the Eucharist; Christ is the Rock and he gives us Living Waters, i.e. his Spirit.

To this day the Jewish people celebrate a Passover meal where a lamb is eaten and the freedom of God’s people is celebrated.

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Section II: The Eucharist: Christ’s Passover Feast (For Holy Thursday)

Order of the Liturgy:

1. Reception of the Holy Oils
2. Liturgy of the Word
3. Foot-washing of selected persons
4. Liturgy of the Eucharist
5. Transfer of the Blessed Sacrament

On Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Three Days of celebrating the events of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the First Reading of the Scripture read this evening recalls the instructions for the Passover meal. The slaying of the lamb recalls death; but the blood of the lamb recalls life: "Life is in the blood." (See Leviticus 17:11)

The night before Jesus died (his "Exodus" or passage from this world), he celebrated a Passover meal with his disciples; he spoke of his death and of his blood "which will be shed for you for the forgiveness of sin." The wages of sin is death, but the Blood of Christ brings life. It is interesting that this Last Supper in which Jesus established our reason to celebrate the Eucharist consists of the staples of a Jewish meal and feast–bread and wine–but does not mention the lamb, essential to a Passover meal.

Was this truly a Jewish Passover which Jesus was celebrating, or was it actually the new Passover, the Christian Passover? For there is a "lamb" at this feast: the "Lamb of God," who is Jesus himself, "who takes away the sin of the world." And truly we believe that it is Jesus himself we receive in the Eucharist, the Crucified and Risen Christ. Every Eucharist is a share in and celebration of his Paschal Mystery, his dying and rising, which we do in memory of him.

The Gospel we read on Holy Thursday is taken from the Gospel according to John. The opening lines: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." (John 13:1-2) The Catechism says: "It is love ‘to the end’ that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value...He knew and loved us all when he offered his life." (Catechism #616)

This "love to the end" is the whole reason the Son of God "became flesh and dwelt among us," (John 1:14) Viktor Frankl wrote, "Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire....The salvation of man is through love and in love." When we recall that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), this statement takes on a deeply Christian meaning. Everything in the Paschal Triduum is about love because it celebrates Christ’s love in his Dying and Rising.

The Mandatum (Foot-washing)

Artist: Ford Maddox Brown

Distinctive to this evening’s celebration is the Foot-washing, called the Mandatum (Latin for "commandment"). Jesus accompanied the washing of his disciple’s feet, the posture of a servant, with his New Commandment to love one another as he loved us (see John 13:34). The Church selects this Gospel passage to emphasize on Holy Thursday’s Celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the establishment of the Eucharist as a perpetual celebration.

On Holy Thursday we recall the foot-washing which Jesus performed at the last Supper. At this Last Supper, Jesus "instituted" the Eucharist and with it the ministerial priesthood. Pope John Paul II wrote about the significance of the Foot-washing:

"In the washing of feet Jesus reveals the depth of God's love for humanity: in Jesus, God places himself at the service of human beings! At the same time, he reveals the meaning of the Christian life and, even more, of the consecrated life, which is a life of self-giving love, of practical and generous service... its commitment [is] to following the Son of Man, who ‘came not to be served but to serve’" (Matthew 20:28).

Pope Francis performed the Mandatum in Rome last year at a juvenile prison:

 

After Communion on Holy Thursday, the Blessed Sacramnet, enough for Communion for the Service of the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday, is solemnly carried to an altar of repose and is adored until midnight.

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                                         Section III: Christ the Paschal Lamb is Slain (For Good Friday)

 

Order of Liturgy:

 

1. Liturgy of the Word

2. Veneration of the Cross
3. Communion

The Sacrifice of Christ began to be accomplished on the day following his Last Supper. This Day we now call Good Friday. Holy Thursday and Good Friday are united as one day. The Passover lamb is recalled in the First Reading on Good Friday: "Like a lamb led to the slaughter...he was silent and opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7; you may wish to read Isaiah 53 to prepare today)

The love of Christ for us is a sacrificial love, a love where he gives his life for us. Sin is the refusal to love and give as God loves us. But on the Cross, God showed us the love that overcomes sin and God wants us to share in this love. The Resurrection demonstrates that this "love to the end" is a "a love without end," conquering sin and death. Thus this Friday is "Good."

The death of Christ is his Passover; his passing through suffering and death, out of love for us that we may follow him. Again recall the opening verse quoted on Holy Thursday: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." (John 13:1-2)

If we follow Christ, we must take up his Cross and follow him. We must pass through unavoidable suffering also in this life. But his suffering for us on the Cross is a suffering also with us. Jesus goes with us in our passages of suffering. We remember that suffering is a passage, not a permanent state. He has passed through this suffering and death ahead of us and we believe that we will follow him into his Resurrection. So we pass over with him from death to life: this is the pattern of our life in Christ. We remember that there is no Cross without the Resurrection.

The Jewish Passover recalled the suffering the People of God endured in Egypt. But in a passage that has given hope to generations of the Jewish People who have suffered much throughout history, the Scripture says: "But the Lord said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry...so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them.’" (Exodus 3:7-8)

So Jesus hears us and "knows well what we suffer." We read on Good Friday this Scripture: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...so let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy in time of help" (Hebrews 4:15)

Veneration of the Cross

At the principal celebration of this day, the Veneration of the Cross, the large wood cross is brought into the church and each participant at the Liturgy is invited to come forward to venerate the Cross. It is an opportunity "to connect" with the Cross of Christ and the sacrificial love which the Cross represents.
 

"Behold the wood of the Cross

on which hung the salvation of the world.
Response: Come, let us adore."
(From Showing of the Holy Cross)

Reflect upon the Instructions given for the veneration of the Cross:

We are about to venerate the Cross.

What we do is through signs of veneration express our embrace of the sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated on the Cross for us.

The Cross reminds us that this love which serves [the message of Holy Thursday] can often lead us into places of suffering. That is the challenge of the Cross. But we go to such places to stand with others who suffer, as Mary stood at the foot of her Son’s Cross.

The comfort of the Cross is that God’s love reaches us even in our darkest moments of suffering, and he is with us in our trials and struggles.

We recall, too, the resurrection of Christ, God’s Word to us that this sacrificial love will never end, never be ultimately defeated, even by death.

So we venerate the cross. You may venerate the Cross in the manner most meaningful to you.

You may genuflect or bow to the Cross.

You may wish to touch the Cross and bless yourself.

You may wish to kiss the arms of the Cross,

or kneel down and kiss the foot of the wood of the Cross.

Whatever for you is a sign of your acceptance and reverence of this Cross and Resurrection of Christ.

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Christ in the Tomb Jean-Jacques Henner

                                              Section III: The Passing of Holy Saturday

 

The dead body of Christ was put into a tomb on Good Friday. The Sabbath followed, a Day of Rest, the Second Day, Holy Saturday.

On the Second Day of the Triduum, Holy Saturday, there is no Liturgy celebrated except Morning Prayer. This Day is the Second Day that Christ is in the Tomb. It is a Day of Sorrow, but also a Day of Watching and Waiting.

We must take seriously the fact that Christ died and was buried. Yet, mysteriously, he was passing through death to come to the Resurrection. One of the great Orthodox Christian Easter acclamations cries out to Christ: "You have trampled down death by death," meaning the death of Christ ends our death, ultimate death is no more!

Fr. Andy Alexander writes:

"Death is our ultimate fear. Everything else we fear, every struggle we have, is some taste of, some chilling approach to, the experience of losing our life. This fear is responsible for so much of our lust and greed, so much of our denial and arrogance, so much of our silly clinging to power, so much of our hectic and anxiety-driven activity. It is the one, inevitable reality we all will face. There is not enough time, money, joy, fulfillment, success. Our physical beauty and strength, our mental competency and agility, all that we have and use to define ourselves, slip away from us with time. Our lives are limited. Our existence is coming to an end. We will all die. In a matter of time, all that will be left of any of us is a decomposing body.

"Today [Holy Saturday] is a day to soberly put aside the blinders we have about the mystery of death and our fear of it. Death is very real and its approach holds great power in our lives. The "good news" we are about to celebrate [the Resurrection] has no real power in our lives unless we have faced the reality of death. To contemplate Jesus' body, there in that tomb, is to look our death in the face."

For this reason one might visit a cemetery on this Day and prayerfully walk around. We pray for the dead; but we must also die to sin and selfishness in Christ’s Passover Mystery.

 

This Day also recalls Christ’s descent into Hell, meaning Hades, the state of death before Christ came to suffer, die and rise for us. Fr. Ron Rohlheiser writes:

 

"One version of our creed tells us that Jesus "descended into hell", What does this mean?

"We are not always sure. There are various traditions as to its meaning: In one version, perhaps the most common, the idea is that the sin of Adam and Eve closed the gates of heaven and they remained sealed until the death of Jesus. Jesus’ death opened them and Jesus, himself, in the time between his death and resurrection, descended into hell (Sheol, the Underworld) where all the souls who had died since the time of Adam somehow rested. He took them all to heaven. His ‘descending into hell’, in this version of things, refers to his going into the underworld after his death to rescue those souls.

"But there is another understanding. It suggests that Jesus’ descent into hell refers especially to the manner of his death, to the depth of chaos and darkness he had to endure there, and to how the depth of love, trust, and forgiveness he revealed inside that darkness manifests a love that can penetrate into any hell that can be created." (Citation HERE)

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                                                                     Section V: The Paschal Vigil
                                                              (For the Night before Easter Sunday)                              
                                                                         & Easter Sunday

 

Order of Liturgy:                                                               

1. Light Service

2. Exultet
3. Liturgy of the Word
4. Baptism & Confirmation
5. Renewal of Baptism Promises
6. Liturgy of the Eucharist

The story of our Christian Passover culminates on the Third Day, the night of Holy Saturday as the Easter Vigil, which precedes Easter Sunday. Again, elements of the Exodus story are recalled and woven into the Easter Vigil. The Vigil begins with the lighting of the Paschal Candle which represents Christ our Light. This large Candle is brought into the darkened church. When Israel passed out of Egypt, a Pillar of Fire went before them, to illuminate their night; and a Cloud by Day.

Once the Paschal Candle is brought into the Church, and its light shared among the congregation, the Easter Song, i.e the Exultet is sung. In the Exultet we hear these words:

"These then are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

"This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

"This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin.

"This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, lending them to grace, and joining them to his holy ones.

"This is the night when Christ broke the prison-bars of death, and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.

"O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

"O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld!...

"The sanctifying power of this night dispels all wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty."

On this night, then, we listen to how God out of love created the world and us, declaring all creation as good. (But sin and death entered the world.) We hear of the Exodus. We hear the promise made to the Prophet Ezekiel that God will give us a new heart and cleanse us from all sin. We hear St. Paul tell the Romans that we are baptized into the death and Resurrection of Christ. And then we proclaim the Gospel that Christ is Risen! Alleluia sounds again!

 

 

The Church baptizes on this night those adults prepared for this moment. By witnessing their Baptism, we recall our own, and renew the promises of our Baptism, renouncing sin, "so as to live in the freedom of God’s children."

Again the liberation by God is recalled. In the Blessing of the waters for Baptism we hear strains of the Exodus once more:

"O God, [You] caused the children of Abraham

to pass dry-shod through the Red Sea,
so that the chosen people
set free from slavery to Pharaoh,would prefigure the people of the baptized.."

Truly the Holy Spirit comes upon these waters: the First Reading speaks of the Spirit hovering over the primordial waters of creation. In the waters of Baptism, we pass from sin and slavery to Risen life and freedom: in our Second Reading we hear about this passage of the Exodus. In these waters the Holy Spirit is given to us: in our Third Reading we hear how we will be given a new Spirit and a new heart (and this heart is the Heart of Christ!).

After any Baptisms of adults or youth are celebrated, we then renew our own Baptism identity and promises. It is the remembrance that we have been immersed into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, his Dying and Rising, and that this is the mystery of God’s sacrificial love to be released in our lives.

Afterward, we then proceed to celebrate the Easter Eucharist, the celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. And it is the Risen Christ who comes to us in every Eucharist, to save us As one of the Eucharist Prayer proclaims: He is "our Passover and our surest peace."

Icon of the Resurrection
from the base of Holy Faith Paschal Candle Stand
(The Risen Jesus rises Adam and Eve from the Dead)

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