We are always on the go over Easter. Daughter playing for cavan so games games games. We go between cavan and Belfast for Easter mass and break. Went to what will be an unnamed church tonight for the vigil. By far my favourite night along with Christmas eve. I kid you not, 45 minutes in and out. Literally shortest vigil I have ever been to. I make no judgement as priests are stretched and potentially the poor man had the vigil down the road at 8. But wow. 45 minutes. Surely a record
The dear priest must have extensively limited the number of available readings since "salvation history" is a necessary theme of the Liturgy of the Word! Anyway: very sad, though there might be an unmentioned cause to short-change the most important Liturgy of the Church Year!
I agree. We went to reading 3 the Exodus and then straight to the first reading. I might add that psychologically amongst the less conversed with the faith there must be huge scandal with the mention of Israel etc and it's immediate association with that current abomination. We need a new catechesis clearly dissociating this political entity from the theological Israel
How wonderful! My favorite Liturgy of the year! Processing into the Church with the Paschal Candle, the source of all other lit candles! Readings highlighting Salvation history! The ringing of bells at the Gloria! I was honored to preach. A crowded Church because both parishes came to St. Anne, Mother of Mary Parish! Everyone responding wholehearted! St. Ann's never got rid of its altar rail (more people kneeling for the reception of Holy Communion). Baptisms are coming up, but none for the Vigil. Parishioners whom I haven't seen for awhile! Jesus Christ is risen today! Hope springs eternal! A little taste of Heaven. O that every Lord's Day mirrored tonight! Alleluia!
From Totus Tuus page today: Happy Easter, everyone! Today we celebrate the most powerful truth in history: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! The tomb is empty. Death has been defeated. Hope has won. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow with confidence. Because He lives, our sins are forgiven. Because He lives, eternal life is our promise. "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Wishing you and your family a blessed, joyful, and meaningful Easter filled with love, peace, and resurrection power. He is risen indeed!
Happy Easter to you all. We had a wonderful vigil tonight. Also, we had an interesting story I wanted to share. For those who aren't aware for this Mass, the candles near the altar are lit via another candle transferred from the Paschal candle instead of a lighter. I'm a Sacristan at our parish, but I wasn't tonight because I was sponsoring a few folks, but after being Sacristan for a while you notice small details during the Mass, especially for ones like this that are fundamentally different. Anyway, one altar server lit his candles quickly, and the other altar server could not get his two to light. He tries for a few minutes but the song is getting close to winding down so he goes and tells the Sacristan, and the Sacristan tells the priest and the Sacristan proceeds to walk over there to light the candles. Anyway around the same time he approaches the altar, both candles that were not lit are lit. I'm sure there can be a natural explanation, but it sure looked like they lit themselves. Given that today is Holy Saturday, my mind immediately went to the Holy Fire in the church of the Holy Seplechure that is also on Holy Saturday. One of the guys I was sponsoring has an agnostic girlfriend who was with him, and he mentioned it after Mass and said she was in shock.
The Easter Liturgy is so beautiful it is like a whole Catechism in itself. If someone was to ask for an explanation of our Faith inviting them to the Easter Liturgy would be enough. The poor priest has Alzeimers and stumbled a lot. But Fulton Sheen said one time we take out of the Mass what we bring to it. It was still beautiful. After Mass it was dark and the stars blazed above. I have never gotten a chance to see this before in Spain so clearly gorgeous.
I love the mystery of Easter morning. The stone rolled away. The linen shroud lying in the tomb. It was very early in the morning when Christ rose perhaps when everyone else was asleep. I like to think he appeared to his mother first, giving her a wee nudge to waken her up in her bed and giving her a big hug.
https://catholicism.org/jesus-christ-meets-with-several-after-the-resurrection.html Jesus Christ Meets with Several After the Resurrection Apr 2, 2018 John F. McManus On the first Easter Sunday, the day when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He made Himself known on six occasions. The great Benedictine Abbot Dom Gueranger refers to the six incidents as “apparitions” and he supplies extremely valuable commentaries in his voluminous work entitled The Liturgical Year. Apparition #1 After rising from the dead in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ went first to His Mother. There is no account of this meeting of Mother and Son in Holy Scripture, but it is inconceivable that He did not go to her once free of the shrouds and away from the sepulcher. In one of her revelations granted centuries later, St. Teresa of Avila reported that Christ found His Blessed Mother so overwhelmed by grief that she would soon have died had He not appeared. That any account of this important event cannot be found in Holy Scripture is consistent with the very few mentions of Mary throughout the holy book and is in a way a testimony to the humility by which she should be remembered. The five additional apparitions following the meeting of Son and Mother supplied proofs of His resurrection. The one with His mother occurred because of the exquisite love shared by each for the other. Many other saints starting with St. Ambrose maintained that Jesus went to His Blessed Mother first. Apparition #2 Before dawn on Easter morning, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleophas (mother of James the Less and Jude) and Salome (mother of James the Greater and John) went to the tomb with perfumes with which to cover the body of the slain Jesus. (Magdalen’s companions should be remembered for having given four apostles to the Church). The women immediately noted that the heavy stone had been rolled back and an angel sat on it. He told the three women that Jesus was not there, that “He is risen.” One of the angels said, “Go tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee.” They promptly returned to Jerusalem and met with Peter and the others. The angel’s mention of Peter by name is significant as it confirms in an important way that he is the leader of the Church and the leader of the apostles who had been appointed by Jesus Himself. Peter and John immediately went to the tomb and, like the holy women, found it empty. But Magdalen returned later with her two companions and found two angels seated on the bier where Christ’s body had been placed. One angel asks why she is weeping. She explains that she is in tears because “they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him.” Then she notices behind her a man whom she perceives to be a gardener. He, too, asks why she is weeping. Confronting this man because she believes that he may have had a hand in removing the sacred body, she says, “Sir if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou has laid him and I will take him away.” (Apparently, even though the angel had told her that Christ had risen, she was in doubt about it.) And the man she thought was a gardener said simply, “Mary” in a way that was most familiar to her. She immediately recognized that this man was, in fact, the risen Jesus. When she indicates a desire to kiss the feet of her Lord as she had done before His death, Jesus tells her not to touch Him and directs her: “Go to my brethren and say to them that I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” How significant it is that Mary Magdalene was the first given the joyous assignment of confirming to others that Christ had truly risen. She was not told to bring the wondrous news to the Blessed Mother. There was no need to do so because Jesus had already appeared to His mother. Mary Magdalene and the other holy women who had accompanied her were the first, beside His mother, to see the risen Jesus. She and they were given the task of becoming, in effect, apostles to the apostles, the first to proclaim to them the wondrous news. Why Mary Magdalen? Because she, who formerly was one of the greatest of sinners, was both the epitome of repentance and the most intense lover of Christ. Also, in granting her this most unique privilege, Christ was both demonstrating His great love for all women while confirming that all sins can be forgiven. Apparition #3 As the three holy women were making their way back to Jerusalem on that stupendous morning, Jesus appeared to them. They immediately fell down adoring him and embracing His feet. Why they were allowed to touch His feet and not Magdalen is another subject explained by the patristic exegetes. Still not appearing before the apostles, Christ was thus honoring the faithful women. It was they who, unlike the apostles who fled when He was apprehended, had followed along the entire path to His death on Calvary. Of the apostles, only John, who had initially fled along with the others in the garden,, returned to be with the Blessed Mother and the holy women while they watched Jesus die. It was John to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother, and John who as a representative of all of mankind was told that Mary was the mother of all. Apparition #4 It is now Easter Sunday afternoon. Peter is given the special privilege of a visit by the risen Jesus who comes to console him, not to berate him, for his three denials. Jesus forgives and instructs Peter. The special privilege of being the first of the apostles to see Christ confirms that he is the leader of the Church and the leader of the apostles. Peter informs the other apostles of his having seen the risen Christ. Apparition #5 In the evening, two men are walking from Jerusalem toward Emmaus. Disciples of Jesus, they are in sadness and have begun to wonder if Jesus was truly the promised Messiah. Suddenly, a man joins them on their way and He reminds them of the scriptural prophecies about a Messiah who must first suffer before entering into His glory. They are thrilled to hear His words but still do not recognize that He is Jesus. When He indicates a desire to leave them, they beg Him to join them in the inn for a meal. Christ consents. At the meal, Jesus took bread as He did at the Last Supper and, when He shared it with them, they immediately recognized who is before them. But He disappears. Some fathers affirm that He vanished from sight and became present Eucharistically in the Bread. The lesson is that we should realize that Christ is always instructing us but we, oftentimes, fail to recognize Him and heed His message. The two men from Emmaus (one named Cleophas and the other not named in Holy Scripture) drop everything and rush back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles that Christ had indeed risen and that they had seen Him. They find the eleven already aware of the resurrection but they have not yet seen Him. That is, except for Peter. They are sequestered behind locked doors still fearful of being discovered by the Jews. Thomas, not yet fully willing to concede that Christ had risen, had left the gathering to go into the city for an unnamed purpose. Apparition #6 The ten apostles and the two men from Emmaus are gathered in fear behind those closed doors when Jesus appears before them even though the doors remained locked. Jesus says, “Peace be to you.” They are stunned but He asks them to view the places of the wounds in His hands and His side. So as to confirm that He is really there and not simply an apparition, he asks for something to eat. It is then that He confirms their assignment, “As the Father hath sent me I also send you.” And He added: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” Thus, the sacrament of Penance was instituted. Thomas is present on a future occasion where his doubts are overcome and he utters, “My Lord and my God.”
Happy Easter, dear friends… Yesterday I nearly froze on Holy Saturday because the service lasted from 8 PM to 11 PM with all the readings. As I already mentioned, in a small town of 23,000 we have three churches; I go to the Franciscans, that is, to St. Anthony of Padua. Because of the large number of people, Mass is held outside in the church courtyard where we can barely all fit, throughout the entire year, whether it’s -20 or +40… Only the Sunday Masses at 7 and 9 are held inside the church; all the others are always outside—in snow, hail, and ice… The Franciscans often don’t even have socks, only sandals.... while the elderly and those who feel cold stay inside the church, which is also full. The Eucharist, distributed by three priests, lasts about 20 minutes… Here are a few photos from yesterday, inside and outside the church, although a good number of people behind aren’t visible.
