LENT AND EASTER A SOURCEBOOK FOR FAMILIES
Edited by Helen Hull Hitchcock.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The Observance of Lent
Movable Feasts
Carnival - Mardi Gras
Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Fast
Fasting and Penance Today
Farewell to Alleluia and Gloria
Suggestions for families
Laetare Sunday / Passiontide
Passion Sunday
Blessed Palms, Palm Procession
Holy Week
Confession and the Easter Duty
The Triduum, Tenebrae
Holy Thursday
Family Activities
Christian Passover Seder
Preparing the Seder
The Stations of the Cross
Good Friday
Veneration of the Cross, The Reproaches
Ideas for Families
The Cross
The Sign of the Cross
Crosses and Symbols of Christ
Holy Saturday
Preparations for Easter, Customs
The Easter Vigil
The Water, The Light of Christ
A Family Easter Candle
Easter Day and Easter Season
Alleluia, The Lord's Day
Ideas for Family Easter Celebrations
Octave of Easter and Paschal Tide
Feast of the Ascension, Pentecost
Activities for Easter Week
Quem Queritis
Te Deum
Antiphons for Easter
Bibliography
Music Supplement
Introduction
THIS IS A SEASON OF CONTRASTS.
Lent begins when the earth is dormant, chill -- and we celebrate the
blazing Light of Easter just as the Spring returns and the world begins to
bloom. As the Church celebrates the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter,
we sense a certain tension in the sometimes suddenly changing lights, the
brights and the darks -- a tension or a pulling within our hearts, between
our hope in the eternal joy which Christ's Resurrection promises, and the
intensified consciousness of all that is within us which corrodes and
clouds this radiant vision -- the awareness of our own disfiguring sin and
need for salvation and mercy.
This anticipation within dread, rejoicing within mourning, comfort
within anguish; this paradox of human existence -- of the Dark Night of the
Soul which can be delivered only by the Dayspring From on High; the Light
of the World forever triumphant over the Prince of Darkness -- is
dramatically and passionately portrayed in the liturgy of the Church during
the season of Lent and Easter. For here we relive the ultimate paradox, the
utmost Mystery: that out of Death comes Life. There can be no Resurrection
without the Crucifixion; no salvation for sinful man apart from the utter
immolation of the Perfect Victim. It is the very degradation of the Cross
which reveals its dazzling Glory. This is the Light which reveals our
darkness, penetrates it and destroys it, as dark clouds are burned away by
the sun.
During this season each of us must look into the mirror held up to us
by our Lord, who said "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is
perfect." [Matthew 5:48] We must be transformed ourselves in order to
reveal His truth to others.
The Lent and Easter season is a time of the Church's annual renewal
and revival in rites of celebration of the Paschal Mystery, Christ's death
and resurrection. Christians make this annual retreat together as one
family in Christ, that we may all be invigorated and inspired for our
mission to bring Christ to the world. We cannot become fruitful
missionaries unless we are filled with Christ. We cannot carry His life-
giving message of Salvation to our families and to the world unless we
comprehend it ourselves. We cannot bring the revealing Light of Christ
into the darkness of the world unless this Light blazes within our own
hearts.
May we be so ignited by our Savior's radiant truth that we may, as He
bids us, "shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify the
Father in Heaven." [Matt. 5:16]
Women for Faith & Family
Feast of St. Scholastica
February 10, 1992
THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT
The penitential season of Lent is the period of forty week-days
beginning on Ash Wednesday. It is a season of the Church year which
commemorates the forty days Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness
before he began his public ministry of preaching for repentance. Six
Sundays are within the season, the last, Passion Sunday, marks the
beginning of Holy Week. Holy Thursday begins the Triduum (three days)
before Easter day, which includes Good Friday and Holy Saturday....
Pre-Lenten Season
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the pre-Lenten penetential season
began on the Sunday three weeks before the beginnng of Lent, called
Septuagesima. The word Septuagesima (seventieth) was a supposed to be a
reminder of the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish
people, and thus of our captivity in sin, although this Sunday was actually
only sixty-three days before Easter. The succeeding pre-lenten Sundays were
called Sexagesima and Quinquagesima. Just as in Lent, violet vestments
were worn and the Alleluia was omitted from Mass.
The liturgical changes initiated by the Council removed this
anticipated pre-Lenten penitential season, however, and the Church returned
to the earlier practice of beginning Lent on Ash Wednesday. The Sundays
between Epiphany and the beginning of Lent are now in the season called
Ordinary Time.
Carnival - Mardi Gras
Carnival is from the Latin Carnevale or "farewell to meat," and it is
a time of joyful feasting and fun. The practice of celebrating carnival
probably began in ancient times when the Sunday a week before the beginning
of Lent was called Dominica Carnevala, or "farewell to meat Sunday"....
Suggestions for Family Activities on Shrove Tuesday
Families can make Shrove Tuesday a spiritual time of preparation for Lent
by going to confession where this is possible (a sort of spiritual "pantry
cleaning.")
Decide on Lenten sacrifices appropriate to the age of each child, reminding
them that our souls need this spiritual exercise to gain strength for
living as Christians, just as our bodies need exercise to remain healthy.
Our sacrifices are like a gift offered to God, and all real gifts 'cost'
the giver something....
Our Lenten spiritual preparations should not be confined to "giving up"
things; we should "take on" things -- extra prayers, for example.
Especially family prayers. If your family has not already established some
form of family prayer, Lent is a good time to begin. We are prepared to do
something special during this season anyway. If you have not established
the habit of praying together as a family, and in our busy times it is
difficult, do set aside some time this Lent to do it. Fathers and mothers
can plan together what form this will take -- whether as simple as saying
the Angelus every night at dinner, or as elaborate as saying the Daily
Office together in the evening....
ASH WEDNESDAY AND THE LENTEN FAST
"The main current of Lent must flow through the interior man, through
hearts and consciences. The essential effort of repentance consists in
this. In this effort the human determination to be converted to God is
invested with the predisposing grace of conversion and, at the same time,
of forgiveness and of spiritual liberation."
This reflection by Pope John Paul II in Lent of 1979, recorded in a
collection of his meditations, "The Light of Christ," indicates the
attitude with which we should approach our observance of this penitential
season--a season which begins with a sign of repentance so ancient as to be
almost lost in antiquity, and continues with penitential action equally
ageless.
Putting ashes on our heads as a form of penitence is a practice
inherited from Jewish tradition....
The ashes imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are a reminder of
our unworthiness and sinfulness--sinfulness which corrupts and stains us
and leads to death (we return to the dust from whence we came.) Ashes
remind us of our original sin and our need of redemption--our need to be
cleansed of sin and made worthy of Salvation....
Fasting and Penance Today
The Code of Canon Law states that Fridays throughout the year and in
the time of Lent are penitential days for the entire Church. Although
fasting usually refers to any practice of restricting food, there is a
distinction, in the Church, between fast (limiting food to one full meal a
day, with two smaller meals allowed) and abstinence (abstaining from eating
meat.) Abstinence from meat on Fridays as the universal form of penance on
all Fridays is no longer mandatory. We may choose another way of observing
the Church's requirement for acts of penance on Fridays, but we are not to
neglect it, either....
Both fast and abstinence are required on Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday....
Farewell to Alleluia and Gloria
During the penitential seasons of the Church, the Gloria and the
Alleluia are not said or sung. The Gloria is sung only at the Mass on Holy
Thursday, usually with great ceremony, organ and sometimes trumpets, and
often with the ringing of bells. After the singing of the Gloria, musical
instruments are to silent until the Alleluia at the Easter Vigil. (Catholic
families might imitate this solemn silence by not playing instrumental
music in their homes at this time.)...
Suggestions for families
Lent is a time for each of us to increase our knowledge of the "faith
that is in us" in order that we can fulfill our vocation as Christians to
extend this rich blessing of faith to others. We accomplish personal
renewal and revitalization of our faith through penance, prayer and
instruction.
Fasting.
The value of self-denial must be learned early in a person's life. Lent
provides an excellent opportunity to teach our children the necessity of
self-denial in our permissive society.
A spirit of fasting can include restriction of luxuries such as television
watching, shopping and going out with friends.
We can give away clothing or possessions to those in need or we can give
time to the Lord by volunteering our services....
Special prayers and devotions.
Whenever possible we can go to daily Mass, and pray more often alone or
with family members.
Children could make an Alleluia card or banner to be "buried" during Lent
and displayed prominently during the Easter season.
Initiate a practice of saying extra prayers at family meals. One ancient
prayer which reminds us of the multifaceted nature of penance is the
following prayer said by the Eastern Church during the Lenten fast....
Read passages in Scripture which help to explain the meaning of fasting and
of penance in our lives....
For study and reflection
Families might develop a Lenten reading program (Reading can replace
some of the television shows we've given up for Lent.) Also, reading aloud
from the Bible or from a Catholic classic every evening for half an hour
can be a way of fostering family conversation about the Catholic faith.
Maria von Trapp suggests that "every year we should divide our reading into
three parts: something for the mind, something for the heart, something for
the soul." [p. 104] (We cannot regard mind, heart and soul as really
separate, of course.)...
LAETARE SUNDAY
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare (Rejoice) Sunday, from the
first words of the liturgy [Introit] above. Since it is in the middle of
Lent, like Gaudete Sunday midway through Advent, Laetare reminds us of the
Event we look forward to at the end of the penitential season. As on
Gaudete Sunday, rose-colored vestments may replace violet, symbolizing, the
Church's joy in anticipation of the Resurrection.
In England, this Sunday is known as Mothering Sunday, a custom which
arose during the Middle Ages, because the Epistle for the day said, "But
Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all"
[Galatians 4:26]. The Church is 'Jerusalem which is above.'...
PASSIONTIDE
Passiontide is the last two weeks of Lent, when the readings and
prayers of the liturgy focus on the Passion of Our Lord. The word
'passion', in the Christian sense, does not mean an intense emotion; it
refers to the historical events of Jesus' suffering and death. Although
for several centuries the Fifth Sunday of Lent was known as Passion Sunday,
after the Second Vatican Council this name was restored to the Sunday at
beginning of Holy Week , formerly called Palm Sunday. As a penitential
season of the Church, Passiontide is evidently even more ancient than Lent.
Devotions and Prayers for Passiontide
Among the traditional non-liturgical devotions of Passiontide are saying
the Stations of the Cross, praying the Rosary, meditating on the five
Sorrowful Mysteries, and saying the five prayers in honor of Christ's five
wounds....
It is fitting, during this season, that we remember Mary and her
inexpressible grief at the suffering and death of her Son. Another ancient
devotion for this season was The Seven Sorrows [Dolors] of Mary. Christian
believers appealed to Mary, the Mother of Sorrows who publicly shared in
her Son's suffering on the road to Calvary, taking all things upon herself-
-concern, affliction and sorrow. This devotion listed the Seven Sorrows of
Mary as: 1. The prophecy of Simeon, 2. The flight to Egypt, 3. The loss of
the Child Jesus in the temple, 4. His way of the Cross, 5. His Crucifixion,
6. The piercing of His heart on Calvary, and 7. His burial in the tomb....
PASSION SUNDAY
Holy Week, the most solemn and intense period of worship in the
Christian faith, begins with Passion Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. In
spite of the spiritual gravity of Holy Week, it begins with joy; for on
this Sunday, the Church celebrates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem
which foretells the victory of His Resurrection and His return to earth in
glory; and with the first reading of the Passion in the liturgies of Holy
Week, the Church begins her commemorative pilgrimage with her Lord on His
way to Calvary.
Liturgical commemoration of the Passion actually begins during the
fifth week of Lent, when Masses are focused on the power of the Cross and
the Kingship of Christ. Until the liturgical reforms just before the Second
Vatican Council restored important liturgical elements of the early Church
which had gradually disappeared (the Easter Vigil, for example), the Fourth
Sunday of Lent was called Passion Sunday, and this Sunday was called Palm
Sunday. Earliest accounts describing the beginning of Holy Week speak of
Passion Sunday.
Blessed Palms
The blessing and distribution of palms takes place on Passion Sunday,
and altar decorations are palm branches rather than flowers. The palms are
solemnly blessed by the priest, and each worshipper holds the blessed palm
during the singing of the ancient hymn, Gloria Laus ('All Glory, Laud and
Honor') and during reading of the Passion....
Palm Procession
According to the account of a fifth-century Spanish pilgrim to the
Holy Land, Passion Sunday Mass was celebrated in Jerusalem at the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. After this the people were invited to meet again in the
afternoon at the Mount of Olives, in the Church of Eleona (the grotto of
the Our Father). They then proceeded to the Church of the Ascension for a
service consisting of hymns and antiphons, readings and prayers, where at
five o'clock in the afternoon the Gospel of the palms was read and the
procession set out for the city. The people responded to the antiphons with
the acclamation, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," as we
say even today....
HOLY WEEK
Holy Week has been held in great reverence since the very early years
of the Church. No other Christian observance has interested the world so
much as Holy Week. For the rituals of the Church during these few days of
each year, so complex and so laden with meaning, emphatically and
prophetically proclaim to the entire world the liberating and redeeming and
perpetual truth of the Gospel -- the Good News that Christ has died, Christ
is risen and Christ will come again....
Although in our time and nation the Church's only required food fast
is to restrict meals (fast) and to abstain from meat (abstinence) on Good
Friday, we learn from medieval Church documents that Christians observed a
strict fast from Monday of Holy Week to the cock-crow of Easter Day. A very
strict fast was usually observed from Thursday evening to Easter
morning....
Confession and the Easter Duty
The discipline of fasting from food is not the only nor even the
primary way in which we must prepare our entire selves--body and soul--to
receive the benefits of our Savior's redeeming sacrifice. Physical fasting
is not enough....
This is what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, like the early
Fathers of the Church, tried to teach us with the emphasis on personal
awareness of how we have offended God and need His forgiveness. As Pope
John Paul II said "The awareness of sin, in which the person knows before
whom and towards whom he is guilty, is an indispensable pre-condition for
obtaining the objective value of forgiveness. This is because He against
whom the sin is commited and who is therefore offended is also the Father
who has the power to fogive it." And this is what the Church invites us --
no, implores us -- to do during Holy Week.
The Triduum
In the Triduum, or Three Days -- Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy
Saturday -- the Church gives us a singularly dramatic, intense and richly
symbolic expression of the very heart of Christian belief. Even in our
unspiritual time and culture, the Triduum and Easter re-affirms the essence
of the Church's central beliefs in the strongest possible way -- a way
which penetrates the deepest recesses of the human heart, and calls forth a
response from all, young and old, rich and poor, and in every state of
life....
By participating in the liturgy of the Church and by increasing our
own observance of these holy days in our homes, we can deepen our
understanding of these Events in the history of Salvation.
Tenebrae
The Latin word Tenebrae means 'darkness.' Tenebrae is very ancient
service of prayers in the Church which takes place during the darkness of
night. Many parishes are now reviving this extraordinarily moving service
which consists of three sets of verses from the Lamentations of Jeremiah
chanted on each of three nights of Holy Week; Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday. (Originally this was a service of Matins said in monasteries
before dawn on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday; but it
customarily takes place the evenings before.)...
If you have young children you might consider using the adaptation of
this service in this book, Stations of the Cross. It is by no means as
powerful as real Tenebr�, but it does retain the symbolism of Christ as our
Light, and it may be a workable substitute if your chldren are little or if
the real service is not available where you live.
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday is the most complex and profound of all religious
services, saving only the Easter Vigil. It celebrates both the institution
by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal
priesthood (as distinct from the 'priesthood of all believers') -- for in
this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is
the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day
presents this same sacrifice, by Christ's authority and command, in exactly
the same way. The Last Supper was also Christ's farewell to His assembled
disciples, some of whom would betray, desert or deny Him before the sun
rose again....
There is such an abundance of symbolism in the solemn celebraton of
the events of Holy Thursday -- layer upon layer, in fact -- that we can no
more than hint at it in these few words. It has inspired great works of art
and literature....
Family Activities for Holy Thursday
We have prepared a Christian adaptation of a Passover Seder, simple
enough for use in families with young children. This special meal stresses
the Christian significance of elements of the traditional Jewish Passover
meal (seder) as it may have been celebrated in our Lord's time. It is
neither a re-enactment of the Last Supper, nor a Jewish service....
Maundy Thursday's emphasis on ritual washing also gave rise to the
ancient tradition of spring cleaning, evidently related to the Jewish
custom of ritually cleaning the home in preparation for the Feast of
Passover....
Adults and children who are old enough to accompany their parents can
return to Church after Mass for a period of Adoration....
A Christian Passover Seder for Holy Thursday
(See book for complete ceremony.)
Contents:
Elements Of The Meal
Readers In The Ceremony
The Paschal Meal
I - Kindling of the festival lights
II - Kiddush
III - Hagadah
IV - Hallel Psalm
V - The Solemn Blessing Of The Food
VI - The Paschal Supper
VII - The Cup Of Blessing
VIII - The Cup Of Melchisedek
Preparing the Seder
If you are planning to go to Church for the Holy Thursday evening Mass,
remember to start the seder meal early. Though this Christian version of
the Passover Seder is much abbreviated, it still takes longer than the
usual week-day family dinner. The suggested menu is purposely very simple
with a vaguely Middle-Eastern flavor. Some of the ceremonial foods can be
part of the meal. You could, of course, make substitutions and additions.
Christians are not bound by Jewish dietary rules or customs....
The Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross continue to be a popular devotion in both
the Eastern and Western Churches. It was developed during the Crusades
when the knights and pilgrims began to follow the route of Christ's way to
Calvary. This devotion spread throughout Europe and was promulgated by the
Franciscan friars in the 14th and 15th centuries. Eventually, the Stations
of the Cross became an important catechetical tool, and the popularity of
this devotion inspired some of the greatest examples of medieval Christian
art. Some scholars believe that medieval miracle plays, which were
essentially tableaux of Christ's life, developed from the sculptured
representations of the Stations of the Cross in the great Churches. These
scenes from the Way of the Cross have provided inspiration for many of the
world's greatest works of visual art.
During Lent or Holy Week most parishes have a service of Stations at
least once. It is worth taking children to this so that they can
participate with other Catholics in this timeless and very moving
devotion....
Suggestions for Family "Tenebrae" Stations
Throughout the season of Lent, but especially during the Holy Week
Triduum the family can pray the Stations together at home. In her book "The
Year and Our Children," Mary Reed Newland suggests that family members make
a candelabrum for the Stations of the Cross "to be used after the fashion
of Tenebrae...to help them love the Stations and to say them nightly during
Lent." [p. 146] You might make a particular effort to say them as a family
during the evening on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Holy Week,
especially if the service of Tenebrae is not available at your parish....
GOOD FRIDAY
On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes its gaze on the Cross at
Calvary. Each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ
has won our redemption. In the solemn ceremonies of Good Friday, in the
Adoration of the Cross, in the chanting of the 'Reproaches', in the reading
of the Passion, and in receiving the pre-consecrated Host, we unite
ourselves to our Savior, and we contemplate our own death to sin in the
Death of our Lord....
The liturgical observance of this day of Christ's suffering,
crucifixion and death evidently has been in existence from the earliest
days of the Church. No Mass is celebrated on this day, but the service of
Good Friday is called the Mass of the Presanctified because communion which
had already been consecrated on Holy Thursday is given to the people....
We can see that the parts of the Good Friday service correspond to the
divisions of Mass:
1. The liturgy of the Word -- reading of the Passion.
2. The intercessory prayers for the Church and the entire world, Christian
and non-Christian.
3. Veneration of the Cross
4. Communion, or the 'Mass of the Pre-Sanctified.'...
Good Friday Ideas for Families
Catholic schools will be closed on Good Friday.so the children will be
able to participate in family observances of this solemn day. If possible,
the entire family should attend Good-Friday services together, or at least
make a trip to Church to make the Stations of the Cross (see section on
Stations). Following are a few other suggestions.
Hot Cross Buns. The familiar hot cross buns are sweet rolls with the sign
of the cross cut into it, and they are one of several traditional European
breads marked with a cross for Good Friday. According to tradition, these
buns originated at St Alban's Abbey in 1361, where the monks gave them to
the poor people who came there....
The Three Hours. Some churches hold prayer services during the three hours
of Christ's suffering on the Cross. It would be appropriate to observe a
period of silence at home, for devotional reading and private prayer (e.g.,
no radio, television, etc.), especially between the hours of noon and 3
o'clock in the afternoon.
Each member of the family might choose a particularly unpleasant job which
has been put off for a long time -- like cleaning the garage or a closet,
or scrubbing the bathrooms (we're sure you can think of something!)-- to
emphasize the dreariness apropriate to the day....
The Cross
In the symbol of the Cross we can see the magnitude of the human
tragedy, the ravages of original sin, and the infinite love of God. Lent is
a particularly appropriate time to attempt to penetrate the true meaning of
this sacred image through prayerful contemplation; and to study the
traditions surrounding the Christian symbol of the Cross.
Looking at the Cross in prayer helps us truly to see it. Most
Christians have crosses in their homes....
It is fitting that Christians glorify the Cross as a sign of Christ's
resurrection and victory over sin and death, of course. But we should
remember each time we see a cross that the Cross of Jesus' crucifixion was
an emblem of physical anguish and personal defilement, not triumph--of
debasement and humiliation, not glory--of degradation and shame, not
beauty. It was a means of execution, like a gallows or a gas chamber.
What the Son of God endured for us was the depth of ugliness and
humiliation. We need to be reminded of the tremendous personal cost of
love.
As Lent advances we contemplate the redeeming Mystery of the Cross
which aids the Church in her pursuit of the renewal of the faithful....
The Sign of the Cross
The season of Lent is a most appropriate time for children of all ages
to learn more about one of the most distinctively Catholic prayers: the
sign of the cross. It is a visible sign (a sacramental) of one's belief in
Christ and of one's hope in the redemption which flows from His Cross.
Accompanied by the invocation of the Trinity (Doxology), "In the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", making a sign of the
cross is a simple and beautiful form of Christian devotion. By making this
sign both in public and in private we affirm our faith in Christ crucified
and ask for His blessing and protection. It is also a gesture of reverence
to the Blessed Sacrament....
Some suggestions for helping to increase children's awareness of this
devotion are:
Give your children a new medal, and ask the priest to bless it for them
while they are present.
Have holy water at home for making this sign "in all our coming in and
going out."
Before going to Mass, ask the children to notice the different forms of the
sign of the cross used during the celebration by the priest and by the
people.
HOLY SATURDAY
Holy Saturday (in Latin, Sabbatum Sanctum ), the 'day of the entombed
Christ,' is the Lord's day of rest, for on that day Christ's body lay in
His tomb. We recall the Apostle's Creed which says "He descended unto the
dead." It is a day of suspense between two worlds, that of darkness, sin
and death, and that of the Resurrection and the restoration of the Light of
the World. For this reason no divine services are held until the Easter
Vigil at night....
Ideally, Holy Saturday should be the quietest day of the year
(although this is not so easy in a busy household with children as it might
be in a convent or monastery.) Nightfall on Holy Saturday is time for joy
and greatest expectation because of the beautiful liturgy of the Easter
Vigil, often referred to as the Mother of all Holy Vigils, or the Great
Service of Light. The Easter Vigil was restored to the liturgy in 1955,
during the liturgical reform which preceded the Second Vatican Council.
During the day, the preparations at home which must be made for Easter
Day are appropriate, however, because they keep our attention fixed on the
holiness and importance of the most central feast of the Church. Working
with our children to prepare for Easter can offer us many 'teaching
moments', as well.
Family Preparations for Easter
As with Christmas, the secular aspects of the Easter season threaten
to overwhelm its religious significance. And as in Advent, which is a
penitential season also, the solemnity of the events we celebrate during
Holy Week risk being obscured by the advance preparations which we may make
for the joyous celebration of Easter. As Catholics, we need to keep this in
mind, and not put out the Easter decorations before Easter. Holy Week and
especially the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday) are so
rich with meaning that we must be careful not to lose any of it, and to
make our observances fit the solemnity or the celebration. But any festive
celebration (and Easter is our greatest cause of rejoicing) takes advance
preparation....
The Easter Vigil
The night vigil of Easter signifies Christ's passage from the dead to
the living by the liturgy which begins in darkness (sin, death) and is
enlightened by the fire and the candle representing Lumen Christi--the
Light of Christ--just as the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, the
community of believers, is led from spiritual darkness to the light of His
truth. Christ's baptism, which our own baptism imitates, is represented
during the liturgy by the blessing of the water of baptism by immersing
('burying') the candle representing His Body into the font.
During the liturgy we recall God's sparing of the Hebrews whose doors
were marked with the blood of the lamb; we are sprinkled with the blessed
water by which we were cleansed from original sin through Christ's
sacrifice, and we repeat our baptismal vows, renouncing Satan and all his
works. We rejoice at Christ's bodily resurrection from the darkness of the
tomb; and we pray for our passage from death into eternal life, from sin
into grace, from the weariness and infirmity of old age to the freshness
and vigor of youth, from the anguish of the Cross to peace and unity with
God, and from this sinful world unto the Father in heaven....
A Family Easter Candle
If for some reason your family cannot attend the Easter Vigil (if the
children are too young to be taken out late at night, for example) some of
this symbolism can be brought into the home, and the ceremony below might
be done after dark just before bedtime. The family Easter candle should be
large enough be lighted at meal times for forty days. Most religious goods
stores carry "Christ Candles" which will serve. A new fire can be kindled
in a large heatproof pan or you may want to do it outside, in the barbecue,
for instance....
Easter Day and Easter Season
With these joyous words Christians have greeted one another on Easter
Day for nearly two thousand years. And every Easter the words proclaim
anew the faith and hope of every Christian in the Good News of God's
profound love of mankind--a love which conquers death. This Easter greeting
is still used in Church, and in the Eastern Orthodox Churches this
proclamation is made during the Easter service as each person kisses the
Gospel book.
Whenever Christians greet one another with these exultant phrases we
affirm the unity of believers throughout all times and ages until He comes
again in glory. Every Christian family can establish the custom of
exchanging this historic greeting, which is also a profession of faith, on
Easter morning. It would set an appropriate tone of rejoicing for the
entire day (and a reminder, also, for young children who may be so excited
about their Easter baskets that they tend to forget why we are
celebrating.)
Mass on Easter Day is the most splendid and exuberant celebration of
the Church. For this is the Sunday of Sundays, the day of Resurrection of
Christ, the center and foundation of our faith. As St. Paul said, "If
Christ be not risen, your faith is vain." [I Cor. 15:14, 17] Thus Easter
is the pinnacle of all feasts of the Church year -- which began with
Advent, or the expectation of the coming of the Messiah, sent by God to
provide the means for our Salvation. The culmination of the entire liturgy
is the Easter feast. Families who attend Mass on Easter Day join millions
of Christians all over the world--past and present--in joyous affirmation
of our redemption through the love of Christ, our hope of salvation, and
our faith in the resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to
come. Although the Easter Vigil and Mass fulfills the obligation for Easter
Mass, the Easter Day celebration is a highlight that many will not want to
miss, and it is permissible to attend both.
Alleluia
Every element of the festive celebration of Mass on Easter Day
resounds with the great Alleluia -- the triumphant word of praise for God
of men and angels.
Alleluia (or hallelujah) is a Hebrew word adopted by the Christian
Church. (Another familiar Hebrew word is amen, 'so be it.') Hallel is the
greatest expression of praise in Hebrew. Combined with Jah, the shortened
form of the name of God, JHVH (meaning "I AM"), it becomes Hallelujah.
Alleluia is a Latinized spelling.
From the time of the apostles the proclaiming of the Alleluia was a
revered custom in ordinary life as well as in connection with the liturgy
of the Church. Farmers and tradesmen sang it as they worked, and mothers
taught their children to pronounce it before any other word. According to
Father Francis Weiser, "in the Roman Empire the Alleluia became the
favorite prayerful song of oarsmen and navigators.The Roman poet-Bishop
Sidonius Apollinaris (480) described how the river banks and shores of Gaul
resounded with the Alleluia song of the rowing boatmen." [Weiser, pp. 28-
29] ('Alleluia' fits the familiar tune of the Song of the Volga Boatman.
Try it!)...
The Lord's Day
Every Sunday is a celebration of the Day of the Lord's Resurrection.
Every celebration of Mass commemorates all the Easter Mysteries, the Lord's
Supper at which Christ instituted the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ on
the Cross and His Resurrection, the historic events on which Christianity
is based. And each Sunday celebrates the Descent of the Holy Spirit on
Pentecost (fifty days after Easter) which established the Church.
Every Sunday, then, is a "little Easter." Every Sunday is Christ's
feast day. This is why the Sundays during Lent are excluded from the forty
days of penance; why no saints' feast days on the Church's calendar are
celebrated on Sunday; and, likewise, why no funeral Masses may be conducted
on the Lord's Day. All Catholics are seriously obliged to participate in
the Church's celebration of Mass on Sundays....
Ideas for Family Easter Celebrations
Everything we have done as a family during the forty days of Lent has
led us to this day. It is time for rejoicing! It is appropriate to bring
out the best of everything for the feast of Easter Day. Flowers, china --
the works. If you can, though, have food that doesn't take a lot of last
minute preparation, so that instead of fretting too much in the kitchen,
like Martha, you have time to rejoice with Jesus, like Mary.
Easter baskets and Easter egg hunts and lawn rolls are surely a universal
occupation of American children on Easter morning -- along with chocolate
eggs and bunnies and marshmallow peeps-- and jelly beans and green Easter
grass all over the carpet -- and keeping the dog and the baby out of the
chocolate! Nearly every family has its own special customs and traditional
foods for Easter....
In addition to the requisite excess of candy eggs, we hope you've included
in the basket something a little more lasting, like the inexpensive little
books of Bible stories for the younger children; perhaps a medal or picture
or a biography of a child's patron saint; even a tape of religious music
would be welcomed by some older children.
Make an Easter Lamb cake....
Another cake idea (simpler but pretty) is to make cupcakes, decorate them
with green colored frosting sprinkled with green shredded coconut "grass"
(just add a few drops of green food color to a tablespoon or so of water,
then stir in the coconut until it is nicely dyed.) With few jelly beans
(or, even better, one or two coated chocolate "bird eggs") on the top, each
little cake will become a colorful Easter egg nest....
You can get dozens of holiday ideas from household magazines and the food
section of newspapers. The main difference in the celebration and
festivities in a Christian household is that we know what we're
celebrating--and why!
Octave of Easter and Paschal Tide
The celebration of the feast of Easter, like that of all great feasts
of the Church, continues for eight days, or an octave. During the week
following Easter Sunday various post-resurrection appearances of Christ are
celebrated in the liturgy....The Octave ends on the first Sunday after
Easter, which is known as Low Sunday. This name is apparently intended to
convey the contrast between this day and the great Easter festival which
preceeded it, as well as to indicate that , as the Octave Day, it is part
of the Easter feast but in a lower degree. This Sunday is also known as
"Dominica in albis depositis," in reference to the fact that those who had
been baptized on Easter Eve laid aside their white baptismal robes for the
fiirst time on this day.
The time from the end of the Octave of Easter to the eighth day after
Pentecost is called Paschal Tide. The two great feasts celebrated during
this time are Ascension and Pentecost.
Feast of the Ascension
The feast of the Ascension is celebrated on the fortieth day after
Easter Sunday, commemorating the Ascension of Christ into Heaven and His
completion of the work of our redemption. The liturgy on this day
celebrates the entry of Christ into heaven with our human nature glorified,
and the pledge of our glorification with Him. In the past processions
outside the church were held on this day to imitate Christ's leading the
Apostles out of the city to the Mount of Olives, and to commemorate the
entry of Christ into heaven. After the Gospel on this day the Paschal
Candle is extinguished.
Pentecost
Pentecost, from the Greek word for 'fiftieth', commemorates the
descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles fifty days after the
Resurrection. It is also called Whitsunday. This feast is very ancient,
dating back to the first century. The Vespers Hymn for this feast is the
Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, Creator Spirit), and the sequence for the
Mass is the Veni sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit). Red vestments are
worn to commemorate the love of the Holy Ghost, or to represent the tongues
of fire. In Italy it was customary to scatter rose petals from the
ceilings of the churches to recall the fiery tongues; and in France it was
the custom to blow trumpets to recall the mighty rushing wind mentioned in
the accounts of the descent of the Holy Ghost.
Family Activities for Easter Week
Catholic schools have a holiday on Easter Monday. If the weather permits,
this would be a good day to go to the park or zoo if you live near one, or
to go on a walk looking closely for signs of spring, promise, rebirth,
reawakening.
An alternative is to go to an art museum to look at Christian art; or to
the library in search of some of the beautifully printed reproductions of
medieval Books of Hours (the Tres Riches Heures painted by the Limbourg
brothers for the Duke of Burgundy is one of the finest.)....
Throughout the Easter Season, the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) is said as
the mealtime Angelus prayer. [For music see Music Supplement at the end of
this book.]
The Regina Coeli
Queen of Heaven, rejoice! Alleluia!
For the Son you were privileged to bear, Alleluia!
Is risen as He said. Alleluia!
Pray for us to God. Alleluia!
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia.
Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world
through the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus
Christ, grant, we beseech you, that through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may
obtain the joys of everlasting life: Through the same
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Quem quaeritis
Whom do you seek?
In the 11th and 12th centuries the Visit to the Sepulchre tropes and
antiphons (chanted verses) developed into a liturgical Easter drama of
great complexity and profound theological insight. This liturgical drama
fulfilled both a didactic (teaching) and a ritualistic function. It was
meant to teach the mystery of the Resurrection and also the proofs for the
Resurrection. According to St. Augustine, the most important feature of the
Visit to the Empty Tomb is that it furnished "ocular proof" of the miracle
on which the entire fabric of Christianity depends. Such visible evidence
includes the abandoned graveclothes, the empty tomb, the appearance of an
angel, and the appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene.
In the "Quem Quaeritis" drama each member of the congregation is asked
the same question that the angel asks the three Marys, "Whom do you seek?"
The re-enactment of the Visit took place after the third lesson of Easter
Matins, or Morning Prayer. Each member of the congregation participated in
the drama, so in a sense all were immediately present at the events
succeeding Christ's rising from the dead. (The reading of the Passion in
Churches today similarly assigns roles to be read by every participant,
although it is not actually dramatized.)
This very beautiful and very ancient dramatization of the Gospel was
meant to be performed in Church with the principal roles always performed
by clerics, as the stage directions indicate. But it might be read in the
home, with family members taking the roles, or in a religion class at
school or Church. The following text is based on one which appears in Karl
Young's "Drama of the Medieval Church" (vol. 1, pp. 363-365.) This
liturgical drama concluded with the singing of the "Te Deum" (English text
also follows.)...
Copyright 1989
by Women for Faith & Family, P.O. Box 8326, St. Louis, MO, 63112
