Happy Easter

Details: 02 April 2010

Restoration

The greatest, most beautiful, and most important night of the year liturgically has always been the night of the “mother of all sacred vigils”. There are documents from the middle of the first century (140 A.D.) that tell us that the sacred night from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday was already at that time universally observed by Christians as an ancient tradition. The Easter Vigil was praised by such Church Fathers as Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.), Saint Paulinus of Nola (353-431 A.D.), and Saint Jerome (343-420 A.D.). Saint Asterius of Amasea said of it: “O night brighter than day; O night brighter than the sun; O night whiter than snow; O night more brilliant than torches; O night more delightful than paradise; O night which knows not darkness: O night which banishes sleep; O night in which we keep vigil with angels; O night terror of demons; O night most desirable of all the year; O night mother of the newly baptized; O night when the devil was stripped; O night in which the Inheritor brought the beneficiaries into their inheritance, an inheritance without end.” The night for Christians is always associated with the hour of the Bridegroom’s arrival in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).

For various reasons the vigil and its ceremonies gradually were moved up earlier over the centuries, until they become generally held on the morning of Holy Saturday. However, Pope Pius XII, in 1951, allowed Bishops, at their discretion, to restore the ancient vigil to its olden position of being held at night. Then this arrangement subsequently was made permanent, universal, and obligatory by that Pope in 1955. The vigil itself consists of four basic elements: a service of light, a service of the word, a service of Baptism, and a service of the Holy Eucharist.

Light

The early Christians often held nighttime vigils, especially on Saturdays into Sundays. These almost always were initiated by a “lucernarium”, a lengthy time when torches and candles were held and set along the walls and hung from the ceiling, while passages from Sacred Scripture were read, psalms were sung, and prayers were recited, the whole activity culminating in the offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass. This practice resonated for them with many parts of the Old Testament (Exodus 27:20-21; 30:1-8; Zechariah 14:6-7). They also saw in the dawning of the sun in the east on Sunday morning, the supreme symbol of Christ’s eventual return to earth (Matthew 24:27), as they saw this happening symbolically and really in the Eucharist Itself.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, speaking of the “candelora” or “lucinaria” of the Easter Vigil says, “As we wait in the night dark church for the Easter light to be struck, we should experience the consoling realization that God is fully aware of the night by which we are surrounded. In fact, He has already struck His light at the heart of it. The night enables us to appreciate what the light really is. It is brightness or luminousness that enables us to see, that shows the way and gives direction, that helps us to know both others and ourselves.” Caryll Houselander wrote, “Light warms, it heals, it penetrates, it gives life, it gives color and beauty to everything that it touches. It is the light of the sun that renews the earth. It is light that guides ships to safety through deep seas; it is light from the window of our home that welcomes us from afar. It is Jesus Christ Who calls us to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), and to reflect Him Who calls Himself the world’s Light (John 8:12).

Victory

The Pope notes that, “on Easter the symbolism of light fuses with the symbolism of night...The Church uses the interplay of night and light to show in a symbolic manner..the victorious entry of God into the world....On Easter the drama reaches its central act and climax. The darkness has used its ultimate weapon, death, but the resurrection effects the great reversal. Light has won the victory and now lives unconquerably. It has made a bit of the world its own and transformed into itself. Of course, this is not the end of the drama. The end is still awaited. It will arrive with the Second Coming of the Lord. At present the light continues, but it is a night in which the light has been lit. When the Lord comes again, a day will dawn that will last forever.”

The Bishop of Rome remarks that in the service of light at the beginning of the Easter Vigil, “we are not only celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, but we are also being given a distant glimpse of the Second Coming of the Lord, Whom we are advancing to meet with lamps lit. Something of the joy that marks a wedding should be ours on this night so bright with candles. The world is indeed dark, but even a single candle suffices to bring light into the deepest darkness. Did not God give us a candle at our Baptism and the means of lighting it? We must be courageous enough to light the candle of our patience, our trust, our love. Instead of bewailing the night, we must light the little lamp that God has loaned us. The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God!”

Easter Message

Not only during the Easter Vigil, but at the Mass on Easter Day we should keep in mind the fact that “the resurrection of Jesus gives us the certainty that God exists and that, as the Father of Jesus Christ, He is a God for human beings. The resurrection of Jesus is the definitive theophany and the triumphant answer to the question of which really reigns, death or life. God exists and that is the real message of Easter. Anyone who grasps what this means also knows what it means to be redeemed. He knows why in her prayers on the blessed day of Easter, the Church sings endless Alleluias, thus giving expression to the wordless jubilation that is too intense to be articulated in everyday language, because its object is our life in its entirety, with all that is effable and ineffable in it. Celebrating Easter means experiencing some of this joy. The Alleluia is like a first revelation of what can and shall someday take place in us. Our entire being shall turn into a single immense joy.”

Pope John Paul II once said, “The exclamation of the Alleluia that rings out during the Easter Vigil in that sacred night already brings with it the joy of Easter morning. It brings the certainty of the resurrection. That which at the first moments after their discovery of the empty tomb the lips of the holy women in front of the sepulcher or the mouths of the astounded Apostles did not have the courage to utter, now the Church, thanks to their testimony, expresses with her Alleluia. The song of joy announces the Great Day. In some Slavic languages the Easter Vigil is called the Great Night, after which there arrives the Great Day, the day the Lord has made” (Psalm 117-118:24).

Dear esteemed readers, may your Easter celebration, our Christian Passover, be a grace-filled time of happiness for you and your loved ones. Happy Easter!