Your 2018 Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Sermon Notes

Were there good points made in the course of the Vigil Mass and the Mass during the day for Easter?  Let us know.

For the Easter Vigil I touched on God’s gift of light and life which we approach in awe in our liturgical rites and which approach us and transform those who actively receive them in full and conscious participation.  Henceforth, we must live the mysteries in what we say and do and help others to discover them as well.

For Easter Sunday I spoke about the risen body we will enjoy in the resurrection with its characteristics of brightness, impassibility (looking forward to that one), agility, and subtlety.

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13 Comments

  1. hwriggles4 says:

    Attended the early 7:30 am Mass – first time in about 8 years I missed Easter Vigil. Our priest is a Pastoral Provision priest, and he spoke about how we need to be more like Mary Magdalene, who showed great witness in the Gospel, particularly when the others did not believe (at least at first) that Jesus had risen from the dead.

    Father also encouraged those present to read the reading for Easter Sunday on the Gospel of Mark afterwards. Father felt the Gospel reading from Mark contained more detail about Jesus Christ rising from the dead than Johns Gospel, which was part of the Novus Ordo cycle during 2018.

  2. Gregg the Obscure says:

    The pastor directed much of the homily to the two people who were about to be baptized (though it of course applies to us all): in the morning you will not look much different than you do now, but you will be different for ever because of the great gift given to you in this Sacrament.

  3. Rob83 says:

    I made a mini-pilgrimage to the nearest location I could find offering an EF vigil that wasn’t SSPX. I am glad I went, it is the first time I’ve been at an EF Mass that was able to have the deacon and subdeacon roles filled and it was a wonderful experience. The vigil was at 11:30 PM at a parish that had done an earlier vigil in the OF. For me personally, a sign of favor from above is that despite all the things that can happen on a trip, it worked out that just as I closed the hand missal after the preparatory prayers, it was time to begin.

    Oddly, I don’t think there was any sermon at the vigil, the only English I heard was during the renewal of baptismal promises. That whole section with the blessing of holy water was jarring and confusing to follow, so I can see why there is a push to go back to the older rites. That aside, the EF vigil seems to flow together much better than the OF vigil. If the permission remains to do the older Holy Week rites next year, I plan to attend those.

  4. My homily was the same ofr last night and today. I brought my sermon series, focusing on the Holy Mass, more or less to a conclusion. Thus far, my theme for Lent was, the Mass is about the Cross. But now that we have reached the Cross, and the tomb, which is now empty, I introduced a new theme: the Mass is about Heaven. I decided this week that this will be a recurrent emphasis during Easter season. In this homily, I talked about the transition from the Eucharistic Prayer to the Our Father, from beggars to adopted children, from kneeling to standing. And I closed with the emphasis: the Eucharist is heaven.

  5. hwriggles4 says:

    Fr. Z.:

    I did want to say (If it’s okay with you) a thank you to you and all the other priests who only had two to three hours sleep between the Easter Vigil and the Sunrise Sunday morning service.

    [You are welcome!]

    Fr. Z's Gold Star Award

  6. frjim4321 says:

    It was the conclusion of the triptych previously described.

    The triptych for the Triduum was an exposition of paschal love as exemplified by the Three Marys:

    HOLY THURSDAY
    Mary of Bethany / Sister of Lazarus and Martha / Loving Service
    Costly Perfume: Gift of self without counting the cost
    Washing with Tears: Passion, willing to go all the way to the cross
    Drying with Hair: Tender / Gentle, an acknowledgement of dignity
    (And, Jesus had just raised her brother from the dead.)

    GOOD FRIDAY
    Mary of Nazareth / Mother of Jesus / Sacrificial Love
    The sacrifice of her “yes” to God’s plan, forgoing her own plans and dreams.
    Her seven sorrows.
    Her (in a limited sense) give her son back to the Father as she stood at the foot of the cross.

    EASTER VIGIL
    Mary of Magdala / The Apostle to the Apostles / Solidarity – Communion – Initiation
    She took the message to the Apostles:
    “The Lord is Risen, it is true.”
    She called the Apostles to the empty tomb.

    The Stories of the Three Marys calls us to deepen our awareness of Paschal Love through out service, sacrifice, and solidarity as members of God’s Family.

    EASTER MORNING:
    A recap of all the above, plus:
    In a few moments, we will respond to the usual, familiar Baptismal promises. If I was in charge, (which I am not) I would propose a few more:

    Are you willing, with Mary of Bethany, filled with the same faith as one whose own flesh and blood was raised from the dead, to rush to Jesus, anoint him with costly perfume, wash his feet with your copious tears and dry them with your hair?

    Are you willing, with Mary of Nazareth, to say “Yes” to God, even when that means forgoing plans and dreams, are you willing to give of yourself in love without the expectation of receving anything whatsoever in return?

    Are you willing, with Mary of Magdala, to rush to the tomb in the dark of morning, before anyone else, and discovering it’s emptiness run to your friends and tell them that “He is risen, as he said?”

    When we are able to answer “I do” to these questions, we will know that we are ready to live the lives of service, sacrifice and solidarity that true Paschal Love demands.

  7. iPadre says:

    I talked about belief in the physical resurrection of Our Lord as a necessity to being Christian. He is our hope. Because of his bodily resurrection, the body is sacred, not be be abused or mistreated. The body is our means of sanctification, our way to union with God, and one day it will share in His glory.

  8. jaykay says:

    hwriggles4: yup, include me in that. Profound thanks to all our faithful Priests who have “navigated” us sheep through all this Holy Week and Easter.

    Our Vigil Mass sermon was on the descent of Christ to the dead, and what that really means, in terms of the Just Dead before the Resurrection and Ascension and Purgatory. O.k., that’s all I heard, given my hearing is a bit deficient these days and we’re on the choir gallery, but it was good. Then there was a confirmation, of adults, all of them immigrants, brought up in former Communist eastern Europe. That they’ve joined the Faith now, in this former (almost) Catholic country of Ireland was very heartening. Well, the church is dedicated to St. Patrick!

  9. Nan says:

    Matins, Catechetical Sermon of St John Chrysostom, every year.

  10. JMody says:

    5 or 6 minutes on eggs as a pre-Christian symbol of fertility become the peasant/serf symbol of the end of the Lenten fast, followed by ten minutes of bad rhyme with Ukrainian “nesting eggs” for Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday — the story they tell of Christ as King, cleaning the temple, anointed by Mary, Last Supper Crucifixion, empty tomb. Accompaniment to all music was from a Ukrainian or Russian and a truly horrid choir. Visually wonderful, aurally revolting.

  11. defenderofTruth says:

    Father had a great homily in which he compared the Last Jedi with Satan and Christ, wherein as the bad guys throw everything they had at Luke, Like emerged unscathed. Similarly, Satan, full of fury, throw everything he had at Christ and Christ emerged victorious. He went on to say that every celebration of the sacraments is a defeat of Satan. Timely as my kids just watched the movie and my youngest girl is getting ready for First Holy Communion.

  12. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Fr. Jim, sounds like a good homily!

    Re: Easter eggs, in the West, the Lk. 12 fish and egg and bread were associated with faith, hope, and love. Probably in the East also, but searching Greek patristics texts is harder, and I do not know Greek.

  13. frjim4321 says:

    “Fr. Jim, sounds like a good homily!” – Suburbanbanshee

    Thank you. Somehow it came together, I don’t really know how.

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