News Item: : Easter Vigil and Solemn High Mass
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Saturday 26 March 2016 - 18:00:36

The approach of the Easter Vigil and Solemn High Mass gradually begins to fill the faithful with joyful expectation as Holy Saturday progresses.

The Traditional Latin Missal teaches that, to understand these sacred ceremonies, we need to recall their continuity with those of the first Christian centuries. 

In the earliest times, the Church observed Holy Saturday as a period of deep mourning and fasting in honour of Our Lord, laid in the Tomb. Towards evening, the catechumens assembled for their final scrutiny. Those who passed it successfully were exorcised and went through the ceremonies of the opening of the ears, renunciation of Satan and recitation of the Credo.

At sunset, the faithful gathered in the church for the blessing of the fire and of the candle that would light the church during the night. From the 4th-Century, the ceremony of the blessing of the candle was instituted as an evening offering to God. This spread widely in the East and in the churches of Spain and Gaul. This ceremony survives in the Roman Liturgy in the Paschal Vigil. The candle is a symbol of Christ, the Light of the World.

Then the long hours of the night were occupied with readings from the Sacred Scriptures, chants and prayers. The lessons and chants particularly focused on the catechumens and provided the outline of Salvation History.

As dawn was appearing, the lessons concluded and the priest proceeded to the blessing of the font. Baptism was then solemnly administered in the Baptistry. Meanwhile, the greater part of the clergy and the congregation, who had remained in the main body of the church, sang the solemn litany which brought the vigil to an end by imploring the mercy of God and the intercession of the court of Heaven for all their needs.

It was now Easter morning. Christ had risen! The newly baptized entered the church in their white robes, the sacred ministers put on white vestments and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for Easter day began.

When we attend the Easter Vigil, we are continuing the sacred practices begun in ancient times to celebrate and enter into the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Sacred Liturgy helps us to enter into Christ's saving mysteries and to receive the graces and fruits which He bestows. The continuity with ancient times is particularly marked in the majestic splendour of the Traditional ritual.

Indeed, the Traditional Missal includes an explicit invitation to all who follow tonight's ceremonies to unite themselves with the spirit of the Christians of the first centuries of fervour and faith. We must remember that, as they are again for many Christians in the world today, those were times when the Church was being persecuted and driven underground. For the earliest Christians, Baptism frequently preceded martyrdom. The sufferings and the joys of the first Christians were equally intense.

As we noted last Easter, every time that we have celebrated the Easter Vigil in recent years, the surrounding culture seems to have slipped even further into new lows of immorality and nihilism since the previous Easter. It is the same again this year. Indeed, even the human element of the Church seems to be crumbling at a faster rate at this time.

However, as we also concluded last Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil will take us from the darkness of death to the light of Resurrection in Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Dear readers, let us pray that the joy of the Risen Christ, the prayers of Our Blessed Lady and the witness of the early martyrs - and those of our own times - will strengthen, console and preserve us throughout our earthly sojourn.

We pray that all of our readers will have a blessed Holy Saturday 2016

Keep the Faith!

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1271 )