The Easter Vigil: my personal experience

        The Easter Vigil is the most solemn liturgy in the Liturgical Year, highlighted by the baptism of the elects (i.e., those who are to be baptized on this sacred night). There are four parts of the Easter Vigil. Part 1: The Service of the Light; Part 2: The Liturgy of the Word; Part 3: The Liturgy of Baptism; and Part 4: The Liturgy of the Eucharist. I attend the Easter Vigil Mass every year since my own baptism over 30 years ago. This short essay briefly describes the liturgy of the Easter Vigil Mass, my personal experience during the celebration of the Mass and how it draws me closer to the Church community.

        When “The Service of the Light (Part 1)” commences, all the lights inside the Church are put out. A fire is prepared outside the Church. The priest begins with a short prayer, “Father, We share in the light of your glory through your Son, the light of the world. Make this new fire U holy, and inflame us with new hope. Purify our minds by this Easter celebration and bring us one day to the feast of eternal light.” Immediately, he draws the congregation’s attention to the Son of God, our Savior, who is the Light of the World. It also reminds the baptism elects the Gospel they heard in the Rite of Second Scrutiny – that on this sacred night they are the man who is born blind. The priest then lights the Easter Candle carried by the deacon. He traces the Greek letter alpha above the cross, the letter omega below, and the numerals of the current year between the arms of the cross; and inserts five grains of incense in the candle. By this act, he reminds us that the eternal Son of God becomes a man; He dies on the cross for us and has now risen in glory. At this juncture, the priest and the congregation gathered outside the Church begin the procession. The lights are still off and the deacon lifts the Easter Candle three times at the entrance, at the middle and before the altar of the Church, each time singing “Christ our Light”, and all answer “Thanks be to God”. After singing the second time, the acolytes will help light up all the candles except for the baptism elects who do not yet have their own candle – they are still in darkness but Christ’s lights are already around them – all others including me in the Church are lighted up by Jesus. Then, the deacon sings the Exsultet, a solemn hymn in praise of the risen Christ – God begins the re-creation of his world by transforming the corpse of Jesus into the nucleus of a new creation. Our mortal bodies will rise like Jesus one day. This concludes Part 1.

        “The Liturgy of the Word (Part 2)” features nine readings, seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament (the epistle and gospel). Before the readings, the priest appeals to all to listen attentively to the word of God so as to recall how He saved His people throughout history, and in the fullness of time, sent His only begotten Son as our Savior. The first reading reminds us that God is our creator, and He makes man in His own image. The second reading reminds us that God has made His promise through Abraham, our father of faith, and He fulfills His promise through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son. The third reading reminds us that God has saved His chosen people from slavery of the Egyptians; and us, His new chosen people from the slavery of sins through baptism. This reading bears a special meaning to the baptism elects. The fourth reading reminds us that God is always merciful on us, and He will fulfill His promise. We should trust Him. The fifth reading reminds us that God’s salvation is offered to all – including us sinners and the elects who are longing to be baptized. The sixth reading reminds us that God is the fountain of wisdom. The seventh reading, the final Old Testament reading, reminds us that we need to have a new heart and a new spirit in order to be God’s people. At the end of each reading, we will meditate on the words by the singing of a responsorial psalm, to be followed by a silent pause, and then summarized by the celebrant’s prayer. After the seventh reading, the altar candles are lighted, the bells are rung and the Gloria is sung for the first time since the commencement of the Lenten Season (except on Holy Thursday and solemnities during Lent). We are filled with joy in praising God with the Angels in Heaven. Before the Gospel, the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans is read. All of us have died to sin and should begin living a new life in Christ. The Gospel is preceded by a very solemn Alleluia to be sung three times. And the Gospel is about the risen Lord, He is alive! “Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.” (Homily on 2013 Easter Vigil, Pope Francis). The homily is to capture the tremendous mysteries being celebrated on this most sacred night and elaborate on how they relate to us.

        The Liturgy of Baptism (Part 3) is the climax of the sacred night. The priest goes with the ministers to the baptismal font. The baptism elects are called forward and presented by their godparents. All facing the baptismal font, the priest invites us to pray for the baptism elects in conjunction with the saints in heaven by singing the Litany led by the cantor. After the Litany, the priest blesses the water, citing God’s almighty deeds through the water over the ages; and by water and the Holy Spirit, we may be cleansed from sin and rise to a new born. What follow are the renunciation of sin and profession of faith, the fundamental of our beliefs, by the baptism elects and then by the faithful. The elects receive baptism one by one in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All attending are full of joy and thanks to God. We welcome the new comers to our family. They are no long called baptism elects but the newborns in Christ. Tearful eyes of joy can be seen everywhere in the Church. After baptism, the godparents clothe the newly baptized with the white baptismal garment and present a lighted candle to them. The newly baptized will have to wear their garments every day during the Easter Octave Masses, remove them on the Second Easter Sunday and wear them again at the their own funerals, as a sign that their souls are as clean as a white cloth. The candles remind them to always keep the flame of faith alive in their hearts. At this point, they receive the Light as did the rest of the congregation during the Service of the Light. The priest then sprinkles the congregation with baptismal water to signify that the Lord has given all of us a new birth by water. After the celebration of baptism, the newly baptized will receive the sacrament of confirmation. The priest lays hands on the whole group and makes a sign of the cross with chrism on the foreheads of those receiving confirmation one by one. Through confirmation, the neophytes receive the Holy Spirit who will strengthen them to become the witness of Christ to all nations on earth. Immediately, they represent us to say the general intercessions.

       The Liturgy of the Eucharist (Part 4) starts with the offering of gifts by the neophytes. In the Eucharistic Prayer, the special interpolations for “Christian Initiation: Baptism” are to be used. After saying the Lord’s Prayer – the first time the neophytes are “qualified” to call God the Father “Our Father”, they will have to prepare themselves to receive the Holy Communion. In this sacred liturgy, the faithful receive the Eucharist under two kinds – body and blood. The neophytes will be invited to receive Holy Communion before others. They are now in full communion with Christ for the first time. Also importantly, they are now part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church and become fully united with us in Christ. Together we will spread God’s word to the rest of the world. The Easter Vigil Mass ends soon after Holy Communion but our actions as the witness of Christ will last until the end of our lives.

        To me, the Easter Vigil Mass is certainly the most important liturgy of the year. It is the climax of the Easter Triduum through which we experience the death and resurrection of the Lord, and the joy of having new blood injected into the Church. As a catechist, I am most comforted that God has finally guided my “students” to receive the Sacraments of Initiation. Easter is always the season of joy, faith and hope. Hallelujah!

The "Hidden" God in the Servant Songs

The first reading of the Mass today (Palm Sunday, 13 April 2014) is the "Third Servant Song" of Isaiah (Isa 50:4-7). The downfall of Jerusalem is seen as part of YHWH’s divine plan. He has not listened to the weeping and mourning of the Jewish people and destroyed them through the hands of the Babylonians for their transgressions. “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isa 45:15). Would their enemies be punished? What is the message of the downfall of Jerusalem for Israel and the other nations? While there was a strong belief that YHWH would turn His face back to the Jewish people, would Israel play a role in the divine plan of YHWH in respect of His dominion over all the nations? The Servant Songs of Second Isaiah addresses these questions.

The first Servant Song (Isa 42:1-4) depicts that the Lord will put His spirit upon his chosen servant; and through him justice will be brought forth to the nations. The Servant, plausibly referring to Israel, would open the eyes of the blind and enable the other nations to see YHWH. Israel’s experience of punishment and restoration as well as the downfall of its enemies (the Babylonians) thus becomes the means through which the nations can recognize the Lord’s sovereignty in the world. 

The Second Servant Song (Isa 49:1-6) depicts that the Servant is given a dual role to restore Israel and as a light to the nations. Despite that Isa 49:3 identifies explicitly Israel as the Servant, it is also apparent that the Servant is given the task to “raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel” (Isa 49:6). Perhaps, this can be understood as the ideal Israel being the Servant who will serve as the light to other nations so that the salvation of the Lord can reach out the ends of the earth.

The Third Servant Song (50:4-9), i.e., the first reading today, depicts the role of the prophet and the word "servant" is not used explicitly in the biblical passage. The Lord has given the prophet the tongue of a teacher. While God will support and help him, obedience to God nevertheless entails suffering. “I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting” (Isa 50:6).

The Fourth Servant Song (52:13-53:12) is the longest and most famous among the four. It brings out the idea of vicarious suffering, i.e. the sufferings of one person or people to atone for the sins of another. It creates a meaning for the suffering of Israel and Judah: by obeying the divine plan of the Lord, Israel suffers on behalf of the other nations and makes the other nations know that there is only one God, YHWH, the Creator of heaven and earth. “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isa 53:5). It is the first time a biblical passage significantly brings out a positive understanding on suffering. It is through a similar understanding that Jesus becomes the savior of all peoples through his suffering and death on the cross. “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12).

Ezekiel’s dry bones and Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead

Today’s (6 April 2014) first reading on Ezekiel’s dry bones (Ezek 37:12-14) and Gospel on the raising of Lazarus (Jn 11:1-45) are related but the latter is a much further and deeper development of the former.

The prophecy of Ezekiel’s dry bones starts with a vision of a valley of bones of dead people. Ezekiel prophesied that the bones would come together, filled with flesh, then covered by skin, and finally breath would come to them and the people would return to life. Apparently, this is related to the resurrection of individuals back to life. However, it could not be the case as the theology of individual resurrection first appeared in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) at the time of the composition of the book of Daniel during the Maccabean Revolt (167-164 BCE), which is much later than the time of composition of the passage on dry bones.

A more likely interpretation of the biblical passage is that Ezekiel uses the vision of resurrection more metaphorically. He did not suggest resurrection of individuals, but Israel as a whole would be restored (“these bones are the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11)). This interpretation is reinforced in the symbolic action following the vision, in which Ezekiel wrote on a stick: “I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand” (Ezek 37:19). So the combined stick is the whole of Israel and not referring to individual Israelites. And the earlier vision of dry bones is thus related to the restoration of the whole of Israel.

The prophecy goes further to say that God would gather all His people of the whole Israel from all the nations where they have gone and bring them to their own land. There would be one king from the Davidic line to rule over them and no longer be two kingdoms. And as the restoration was complete, “My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore” (Ezek 37:27-28).

In today’s Gospel, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Apparently, he is the anointed king (Messiah) from the Davidic line to fulfil God’s promise for someone to rule over the whole of Israel. However, I think the Biblical passage contains an even deeper meaning than Jesus being Christ (Messiah). While all the four Gospels portray Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, what is unique in the Gospel of John to the Synoptic Gospels is its focus put on the divinity of Jesus who is pre-existent with the Father. It marks a high point in early Christology.

In the Gospel, after Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25), Martha’s immediate response seemed to be forthcoming, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (Jn 11:27). However, did she really believe that “Jesus is the resurrection and the life”? What kind of power does “the Messiah, the Son of God” have? Is “the Son of God” just a messenger of God like a prophet in the Old Testament? You may notice in the Gospel that twice Jesus was “greatly disturbed” (Jn 11:33, 38). Of course, we can interpret it as Jesus was sorry for the death of his friend Lazarus or sorry for Martha and Mary who lost their brother Lazarus. But perhaps Jesus was disturbed because he saw them and other Jews weeping, and more importantly their disbelief in his almighty power of God. And perhaps their understanding of the titles “Messiah” and “Son of God” was not what Jesus had expected.

Jesus ordered Lazarus to come out from the tomb and immediately he came out with his hands and feet still bound with strips of cloth! Can you remember this scene in another place of the Gospel of John? It is in Jesus’ own resurrection with the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head and the linen wrappings on his body rolled up in the tomb by themselves (Jn 20:7). John, Jesus’ beloved disciple, saw and believed (Jn 20:8). He is the first true believer according to the Gospel of John. A week later, the resurrected Jesus appeared to his apostles, including Thomas. Let’s look at the response of Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28) This is the true and ultimate confession of faith. This is the correct understanding of “Messiah” and “Son of God”. Simply put, Jesus is God!

Bibliography

Coogan, Michael D. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.