EASTER SUNDAY

"Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia"




Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn:
The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen
oil on canvas, 1638
Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace, London

The Easter Sequence, known as Victimae paschali laudes in Latin, is a beautiful and ancient poem, telling a short narrative story of Resurrection morn, set to a wonderful Gregorian chant melody.

To the Paschal Victim let Christians offer a sacrifice of praise.

The Lamb redeemed the sheep.
Christ, sinless, reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life were locked together in a unique struggle.
Life's captain died;
now he reign, never more to die.

Tell us Mary, "What did you see on the way?"

"I saw the tomb of the now living Christ.
I saw the glory of Christ, now risen."

"I saw angels who gave witness;
the cloths too which once had covered head and limbs."

"Christ my hope has arisen.
He will go before his own into Galilee."

We know that Christ has indeed risen from the dead.
Do you, conqueror and king, have mercy on us.
Amen. Alleluia

HOLY SATURDAY or EASTER EVE

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, and a detail, 1521–22. Oil and tempera on limewood, Kunstmuseum Basel.by: Hans Holbein the Younger



HOLY SATURDAY or EASTER EVE

Holy Saturday (Latin: Sabbatum Sanctum) is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week and Lent, in which Roman Catholics prepare for Easter. This day commemorates the day that Jesus Christ's body laid in the tomb. It is sometimes known as Black Saturday or Easter Saturday, though the latter name is more correctly applied to the Saturday in Easter week.

In the primitive Church Holy Saturday was known as Great, or Grand, Saturday, Holy Saturday, the Angelic Night, the Vigil of Easter, etc. It is no longer, like Maundy Thursday, a day of joy, but one of joy and sadness intermingled; it is the close of the season of Lent and penance, and the beginning of paschal time, which is one of rejoicing.

The paschal Sabbath lasts from Good Friday sunset to Holy Saturday sunset. This is the middle day of the Triduum. It is perhaps the strangest, most mysterious, most puzzling day on the calendar.
In Latin, Holy Saturday is Sabbatum Sanctum, the Holy Sabbath. In the tomb, Jesus rested on the Sabbath. The church rests in Christ today.


I. THE BLESSING OF THE NEW FIRE

The Lumen Christi (Latin: Light of Christ) is a Versicle sung in Catholics and Lutheran churches as part of the Easter Vigil. It is chanted by the deacon on Holy Saturday as he lights the triple candle.

The procession then moves up the church, the deacon in a white Dalmatic carrying the triple candle. Three times the procession stops, the deacon lights one of the candles from the taper and sings, "Lumen Christi", on one note (fa, in the Solfege system), dropping a minor third (to re) on the last syllable. The choir answers, "Deo gratias", to the same tone. Each time it is sung at a higher pitch. As it is sung, all genuflect. Having arrived at the altar, the deacon begins the blessing of the Paschal Candle (Exultet). The meaning of this rite is obvious: a light must be brought from the new fire to the Paschal Candle; out of this the ceremony grew and attracted to itself symbolic meaning, as usual.

II. THE BLESSING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE

The worshiping assembly in school then processes into the church led by the Paschal candle. The candle is raised three times during the procession, accompanied by the chant "The light of Christ" to which the assembly responds "Thanks be to God". Following the procession the Exultet is chanted, traditionally by a deacon, but it may be chanted by the priest or a cantor. The Exultet concludes with a blessing of the candle:


Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
(For it is fed by the holy melting wax, which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all humanity,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

III. THE PROPHECIES

After the blessing of the Paschal candle the deacon lays aside his white dalmatic and puts on a violet stole and maniple. He then goes to the celebrant, who after laying aside his cope puts on a violet maniple and chasuble. The Prophecies are then chanted without any introduction, while the priest standing on the Epistle side of the altar reads them in a low voice.

The reading of the twelve Prophecies served the object formerly of a final initiation of the catechumens.

1) Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-2
Through baptism the souls of men will recover the rights which they enjoyed in Eden before the fall of Adam.

2) Genesis 5; 6; 7; 8 passim
God, through baptism, brings souls into the Church, which is the Ark of Salvation. As after the flood, so now the world is renewed, by the saving waters of baptism.

3) Genesis 22:1-19
Through baptism and their faith in Jesus Christ, the converts were enrolled among the children promised by God to Abraham. On Quinquagesima Sunday, when the liturgy was concerned with the history of this patriarch, no mention was made of his sacrifice because, to follow St Augustine, this type of our Lord's sacrifice is held over until Passiontide, when it is fulfilled.

4) Exodus 14: 24-31; 15
By baptism Christ rescues the catechumens from the yoke of Satan as Moses freed the Israelites from the captivity of Egypt.

5) Isaias 54:17;55:1-11
Through baptism souls are incorporated in the new nation with which God enters into a covenant immeasurably superior to the covenant of Sinai.

6) Baruch 3:9-38
The souls of the baptised will enjoy eternal peace if they observe the lessons of life and of wisdom which the Church teaches them on behalf of God.

7) Ezechiel 37:1-14
Baptism infuses new life into our souls. This is what is meant by the dry bones which at the command of Ezechiel stood up unto their feet, put on flesh and became a mighty army.

8) Isaias 4:1-6
Christ, after purifying our souls in baptism, will take them under His protection.

9) Exodus 12: 1-11
All who have been baptized shall eat the flesh of the Lamb of God of which the Paschal Lamb is the figure.

10) Jonas 3:1-10
Like the Ninevites of old, our souls in baptism will obtain mercy from God.

11) Deuteronomy 31:22-30
The souls of those that have been baptized must bear in mind, like the people led by Moses, the law of God and His munificence.

12) Daniel 3:1-24
The souls of those who have been baptized are shielded by God in the midst of all danger, as were the three young men in the furnace.

IV. THE BLESSING OF THE FONT

At the end of the reading of the Prophecies, if there is a baptismal font in the church the priest who is about to bless it puts on a violet cope and, preceded by the processional cross, the candelabra and the lighted blessed candle, goes to the font with his ministers and the clergy, while the following Tract is sung:

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum: ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. V. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei? V. Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panes die ac nocte, dum dicitur mihi per singulos dies: Ubi est Deus tuus?
As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God. V. My soul hath thirsted for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of God? V. My tears have been my bread day and night, while they say to me daily: Where is thy God?
(Psalm 12:2-4)

Having blessed the font, if there are any to be baptized he baptizes them in the usual way. Then, while the priest and his ministers return to the altar, two cantors begin the Litany.

V. THE LITANY OF THE SAINTS

The celebrant puts aside his chasuble, and with his ministers prostrates himself before the altar. All the rest kneel and two cantors in the middle of the choir sing the Litany, both sides repeating each invocation.

At the invocation Peccatores, te rogamus, audi nos the priest and his ministers rise and go into the sacristy, where they put on white vestments for the solemn celebration of Mass. Meanwhile the candles are lighted on the altar.

VI. MASS AND VESPERS

During the singing of the Litany the neophytes re-entered the church, and the Mass was begun which inaugurated the solemn services of Easter (Secret). This celebrates the glory of the risen Christ (Gospel), and that of the souls who, through baptism, have entered on a new life, a pledge of their future resurrection (Epistle, Collect, Hanc igitur). Hence the joyful Alleluia that is sung, the pealing of the organ and the ringing of the bells.





MEDITATION ON HOLY SATURDAY:

Through these rites of Holy Saturday, historically and devotionally so gripping, from ancient ages the most solemn of all Vigils of the year, we see Our Lord revealed to us in specific ways, and we in turn are called upon to reflect Him in those ways in our own lives. Together, on this, the "Mother of All Holy Vigils," as St. Augustine calls it, we hear the Lessons that teach us the history of our Faith, the Old Law before the fulfillment of our redemption under the New. We come through the darkness of Our Lord's Passion and Death into the light, as together we now celebrate His glorious Resurrection.

Good Friday

Isenheim Altarpiece in Colmar, Alsace. by: Matthias Grünewald






Good Friday (from the senses pious, holy of the word "good"), is a religious holiday observed bt Roman Catholics commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, or Easter Friday.

Based on the details of the Canonical gospels, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most on a Friday (John 19:42). The year of Good Friday is AD 33, by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the moon. A third method, using a completely different astronomical approach based on a lunar Crucifixion darkness and eclipse model (consistent with Apostle Peter's reference to a "moon of blood" in Acts 2:20), points to Friday, 3 April AD 33.


According to the accounts in the Gospels, the Temple Guards, guided by Jesus' disciple Judas Iscariot, arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas received money (30 pieces of silver) (Matthew 26:14-16) for betraying Jesus and told the guards that whomever he kisses is the one they are to arrest. Following his arrest, Jesus is brought to the house of Annas, who is the father-in-law of the high priest, Caiaphas. There he is interrogated with little result and sent bound to Caiaphas the high priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled (John 18:1-24).

Conflicting testimony against Jesus is brought forth by many witnesses, to which Jesus answers nothing. Finally the high priest adjures Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?" Jesus testifies in the affirmative, "You have said it, and in time you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty, coming on the clouds of Heaven." The high priest condemns Jesus for blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus concurs with a sentence of death (Matthew 26:57-66). Peter, waiting in the courtyard, also denies Jesus three times to bystanders while the interrogations were proceeding just as Jesus had predicted.

Simeron Kremate Epi Xilo:

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross (three times).
He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns.
He who wraps the heaven in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon His face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.
The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ (three times).
Show us also Thy glorious Resurrection.

"Vexilla Regis"

The "Vexilla Regis" is a Latin hymn by the Christian poet Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers. It takes its title from its opening stanza:

Vexilla regis prodeunt,
fulget crucis mysterium,
quo carne carnis conditor
suspensus est patibulo. The banners of the king issue forth,
doth flash the wonder of the cross,
where the preserver in flesh, of flesh,
by the cross-bar [of the crucifying cross] is hung.

The hymn was first sung in the procession (November 19, 569) when a relic of the True Cross, sent by the Byzantine Emperor Justin II from the East at the request of St. Radegunda, was carried in great pomp from Tours to her monastery of Saint-Croix at Poitiers. Its original processional use is commemorated in the Roman Missal on Good Friday, when the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession from the Repository to the High Altar.


Liturgy


The liturgy consists of three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and the Mass of the Presantified.


The Liturgy of the Word, consists of the clergy and assisting ministers entering in complete silence, without any singing. They then silently make a full prostration, "[signifying] both the abasement of 'earthly man,' and also the grief and sorrow of the Church." Then follows the Collect prayer, and the reading or chanting of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, and the Passion account from the Gospel of John, traditionally divided between three deacons yet often divided between the celebrant and more than one singer or reader. This part of the liturgy concludes with the orationes sollemnes, a series of prayers for the Church, the Pope, the clergy and laity of the Church, those preparing for baptism, the unity of Christians, the Jewish people, those who do not believe in Christ, those who do not believe in God, those in public office, those in special need. After each prayer intention, the deacon calls the faithful to kneel for a short period of private prayer; the celebrant then sums up the prayer intention with a Collect-style prayer.

The Veneration of the Cross, has a crucifix, not necessarily the one that is normally on or near the altar at other times, solemnly displayed to the congregation and then venerated by them, individually if possible and usually by kissing the wood of the cross, while hymns and the Improperia ("Reproaches") with the Trisagion hymn are chanted

Holy Communion is done according to a rite based on that of the final part of Mass, beginning with the Our Father, but omitting the ceremony of "Breaking of the Bread" and its related chant, the "Agnus Dei". The Eucharist, consecrated at the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday is distributed at this service. Before the reform of Pope Pius XII, only the priest received Communion in the framework of what was called the "Mass of the Presanctified", which included the usual Offertory prayers, with the placing of wine in the chalice, but which omitted the Canon of the Mass. The priest and people then depart in silence, and the altar cloth is removed, leaving the altar bare except for the cross and two or four candlesticks.


Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ

The Roman Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as acts of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus suffered during his Passion on Good Friday. These Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ do not involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair the sins against Jesus. Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.

In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus.





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May Christ our true God, Who for the salvation of the world endured spitting, and scourging, and buffeting, and the Cross, and death, through the intercessions of His most pure Mother, of our holy and God-bearing fathers, and of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, for He is good and the Lover of mankind.

Holy Thursday

Wednesday in Holy Week - "Spy Wednesday"

Wednesday in Holy Week - "Spy Wednesday"






"Surely it is not I, Lord?"
~ Matthew 26



MEDITATION ON "SPY" WEDNESDAY:
Today is known as "Spy Wednesday," in remembrance of the traitorous deed of Judas Iscariot. The Introit gives us a foretaste of what is to come after the passion and death of our Lord: "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" (Philippians 2:10/DRV). But immediately juxtaposed to this acknowledgment of divine glory is the other side of the equation. This is the refrain that will be repeated at every Hour of the Divine Office beginning tomorrow: "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8/DRV).


RECOMMENDED SACRED MUSIC:

Gregorian Chant of Wednesday of Holy Week
Johann Sebastian Bach's Lukas Passion [BWV 246]


The Wednesday before Easter is sometimes known as "Spy Wednesday", indicating that it is the day that Judas Iscariot first conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for thirty silver coins.

This event is described in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10-12, Luke 22:3-6.

This is also the day that Jesus was anointed with an expensive jar of alabaster by the woman at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-19).



The Sanhedrin was gathered together and it decided to kill Jesus, even before Pesach if possible. In the meantime, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. Here he was anointed on his head by Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, with very expensive ointment of spikenard. Some of the disciples were indignant about this; the oil could have been sold to support the poor. Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered them his support in exchange for money. From this moment on Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

Although it is frequently celebrated on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, the Tenebrae is a liturgy that is often celebrated on this day. The word tenebrae comes from the Latin meaning darkness. In this service, all of the candles on the altar table are gradually extinguished until the sanctuary is in complete darkness. At the moment of darkness, a loud clash occurs symbolizing the death of Jesus. The 'strepitus', as it is known more probably symbolizes the earthquake that followed Jesus' death: "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" Matthew 27:51(AV).

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"I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard."

~ Isaiah 50

Tuesday in Holy Week

MEDITATION FOR TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

Today we turn our sights to the Cross. The Introit consists not of the usual psalm, but with the words of St. Paul, putting the meaning of the Cross into perspective for us: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14/DRV). Holy Mother Church then adds: "In Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection: through Whom we have been saved and set free."


RECOMMENDED SACRED MUSIC

Gregorian Chant of Tuesday in Holy Week


Station: St.Prisca

Palm Sunday

The Fully-Traditional (Pre-1955) Palm Sunday Rites
As Celebrated at Westminster Cathedral, London, 1919



Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels (Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19).

The sixth and last Sunday of Lent and beginning of Holy Week, a Sunday of the highest rank, not even a commemoration of any kind being permitted in the Mass. In common law it fixes the commencement of Easter duty. The Roman Missal marks the station at St. John Lateran (see STATIONS) and before September, 1870, the pope performed the ceremonies there.

Since this Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, during which sinners were reconciled, it was called Dominica indulgentioe, competentium, and capitilavium from the practice of washing and shaving of the head as a bodily preparation for baptism. During the early centuries of the Church this sacrament was conferred solemnly only in the night of Holy Saturday, the text of the creed had been made known to the catechumens on the preceding Palm Sunday.

The principal ceremonies of the day are the benediction of the palms, the procession, the Mass, and during it the singing of the Passion. The blessing of the palms follows a ritual similar to that of Mass. On the altar branches of palms are placed between the candlesticks instead of flowers ordinarily used.

Today, this "Second Sunday of the Passion," is the memorial of Christ's "triumphant," but misunderstood, entry into Jerusalem, the day that begins Holy Week. This entry into Jerusalem is seen as the prophetic fulfillment of Zacharias 9:9-10 :

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth.

MEDITATION ON PALM SUNDAY:

All the ceremonies of Palm Sunday -- the blessing of the palms, the procession, the chanted Hosannas -- are instituted by Holy Mother Church to recall the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem on this day. What a contrast, at only six days' interval, between the honors rendered to Our Lord today and the affronts and blasphemies that will greet Him five days hence on Good Friday! Let us learn these three things from the great lesson taught us by Our Lord on Palm Sunday. First, to be content to rely not upon man, but upon God alone for consolation and the witness of our sorrows and sufferings. Second, to detach ourselves from earthly possessions, which often come at our soul's cost. Third, to set no store by earthly greatness, notice, fame, or applause. "For after all these things do the heathens seek" (Matthew 6:32/DRV).


RECOMMENDED SACRED MUSIC:

Gregorian Chant of Palm Sunday
Johann Sebastian Bach's Mattaeus Passion


ANTIPHON from the Mass: Matt. 21.9

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blesssed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. OKing of Isreal:Hosanna in the highest!