New life in Christ celebrated at Easter Vigil
Published : April 16, 2022
“ Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death ? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, merely as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we excessively might live in newness of life. ” — Romans 6:3-4
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While Christ is in the grave on Holy Saturday, he did something identical crucial that frequently gets lost in the celebration of the Easter Vigil that evening. In the Apostles Creed we pray : “ He descended into hell. ” Hell in this sense has a very unlike meaning than how we understand the term today.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains : “ bible calls the digest of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, ‘hell ‘ — ‘Sheol’ in Hebrew or ‘Hades ‘ in greek — because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. ” At this point in time, all those who had died were in this place because before Jesus ‘ end and resurrection going to heaven was not possible, even for the righteous souls, such as the Old Testament patriarch .
“ Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the merely who had gone earlier him. … This is the last phase of Jesus ‘ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in clock time but huge in its veridical significance : the scatter of Christ ‘s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption. ” ( catechism, no. 633-634 )
“ today a great silence reigns on worldly concern, a great silence and a great hush. A big hush because the King is asleep. The land trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the pulp and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the worldly concern began … He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lose sheep. greatly desiring to visit those who live in iniquity and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, prisoner with him — He who is both their God and the son of Eve … ‘ I am your God, who for your sake have become your son … I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. ‘ ” ( Ancient Holy Saturday homily )
The early church service observed Holy Saturday by continuing the thoroughly Friday fast in preparation for Easter. “ After sunset Christians would hold an nightlong watch, which concluded with baptism and holy eucharist at the break of dawn. The like mind ( if not the identical timeline ) is found in the Easter Vigil today, which is the high point of the Easter Triduum and is filled with an abundance of readings, symbols, ceremony and sacraments, ” according to Carl E. Olson of Our Sunday Visitor.
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Known as the “ mother of all vigils, ” the Easter Vigil Mass takes places after sunset and before dawn, frankincense beginning and ending in darkness. “ On this holy night, the Church keeps watch, celebrating the resurrection of Christ in the sacraments and awaiting his return in glory. It is the turning point of the triduum, the Passover of the modern covenant, which marks Christ ‘s passage from death to liveliness. ”
The biblical themes of light removing iniquity and life overcoming death runs through the integral Mass, which consists of four chief parts : the Service of Light, the Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of Baptism and Liturgy of the Eucharist. Our redemption history is proclaimed during the Liturgy of the Word, revealing a God who has constantly been with us culminating in his resurrection from the dead and ultimate victory over sin and death. We then ring the bells and sing the Gloria and alleluia for the first time since Lent began .
The Mass then transitions into the baptism of those being initiated into the Catholic Church to show the association between Christ ‘s resurrection and ours. It is a rehearse that goes back to the early church service and belated renewed through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults ( RCIA ) action after the second Vatican Council.
many people will join the Catholic Church by receiving the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist during Easter Vigil Masses in parishes across Arkansas. Read about these new Catholics in Arkansas Catholic .
Did you get your new Easter kit yet ? “ From the clock of the early Christians, the newly baptized wear white garments made from new linen. In medieval times, it became a tradition for people to wear new clothes on Easter Sunday, symbolizing the ‘new life ‘ that comes with the resurrection. In some places it was believed that bad luck would come to those who could afford new Easter clothes but refused to buy them. ” To learn more, read this reflection on the Exsultet ( Service of Light ) or explore “ 10 Things You credibly Did n’t Know About the Easter Vigil. ”