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Sunday, April 4, 2010, 12:00 AMEaster Sunday Mass Times:
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7:30 am
9:00 am
11:00 am
Note: NO 5pm Youth Mass
Easter Day97. Mass is to be celebrated on Easter Day with great solemnity. It is appropriate that the penitential rite on this day take the form of a sprinkling with water blessed at the Vigil, during which the antiphon "Vidi aquam", or some other song of baptismal character should be sung. The stoups at the entrance to the church should also be filled with the same water.
98. The tradition of celebrating baptismal Vespers on Easter Day with the singing of psalms during the procession to the font should be maintained where it is still in force, and as appropriate restored. (103)
99. The paschal candle has its proper place either by the ambo or by the altar and should be lit at least in all the more solemn liturgical celebrations of the season until Pentecost Sunday, whether at Mass, or at Morning and Evening Prayer. After the Easter season the candle should be kept with honour in the baptistery, so that in the celebration of Baptism the candles of the baptized may be lit from it. In the celebration of funerals the paschal candle should be placed near the coffin to indicate that the death of a Christian is his own passover. The paschal candle should not otherwise be lit nor placed in the sanctuary outside the Easter season. (104)
100. The celebration of Easter is prolonged throughout the Easter season. The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated as one feast day, the "great Sunday". (105)
101. The Sundays of this season are regarded as Sundays of Easter, and so termed, and they have precedence over all feasts of the Lord and over all solemnities. Solemnities that fall on one of these Sundays are anticipated on the Saturday. (106) Celebrations in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the saints which fall during the week, may not be transferred to one of these Sundays. (107)
102. For adults who have received Christian initiation during the Easter Vigil the whole of this period is given over to mystagogical catechesis. Therefore, wherever there are neophytes, the prescriptions of the Ordo initiationis Christianae adultorum, no. 37-40 and 235-239 should be observed. Intercession should be made in the Eucharistic Prayer for the newly baptized throughout the Easter octave in all places.
103. Throughout the Easter season the neophytes should be assigned their own special place among the faithful. All neophytes should endeavour to participate at Mass along with their godparents. In the homily and, according to local circumstances, in the general intercessions mention should be made of them. Some celebration should be held to conclude the period of mystagogical catechesis on or about Pentecost Sunday, depending upon local custom. (108) It is also appropriate that children receive their first Communion on one or other of the Sundays of Easter.
104. During Easter time, pastors should instruct the faithful who have been already initiated into the Eucharist on the meaning of the Church's precept concerning the reception of Holy Communion during this period. (109) It is highly recommended that Communion be brought to the sick also, especially during the Easter octave.
105. Where there is the custom of blessing houses in celebration of the Resurrection, this blessing is to be imparted after the Solemnity of Easter, and not before, by the parish priest, or other priests or deacons delegated by him. This is an opportunity for exercising a pastoral ministry. (110) The parish priest should go to each house for the purpose of undertaking a pastoral visitation of each family. There he will speak with the residents, spend a few moments with them in prayer, using texts to be found in the book De Benedictionibus. (111) In larger cities consideration should be given to the gathering of several families for a common celebration of the blessing for all.
106. According to the differing circumstances of places and peoples, there are found a number of popular practices linked to celebrations of the Easter season, which in some instances attract greater numbers of the people than the sacred liturgy itself; these are not in any way to be undervalued, for they are often well adapted to the religious mentality of the faithful. Let episcopal conferences and local ordinaries therefore see to it that practices of this kind which seem to nourish popular piety, be harmonized in the best way possible with the sacred liturgy, be imbued more distinctly with the spirit of the liturgy, in some way derived from it, and lead the people to it. (112)
107. This sacred period of fifty days concludes with Pentecost Sunday, when the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, the beginnings of the Church and the start of her mission to all tongues and peoples and nations are commemorated. (113)
Encouragement should be given to the prolonged celebration of Mass in the form of a Vigil, whose character is not baptismal as in the Easter Vigil, but is one of urgent prayer, after the example of the Apostles and disciples, who persevered together in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as they awaited the Holy Spirit. (114)
108. "It is proper to the Paschal festivity that the whole Church rejoice at the forgiveness of sins, which is not only for those who are reborn in Holy Baptism, but also for those who have long been numbered among the adopted children". (115) By means of a more intensive pastoral care and a deeper spiritual effort, all who celebrate the Easter feasts will by the Lord's grace experience their effect in their daily lives. (116)
Given at Rome, at the Offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship, 16 January 1988.
Paul Augustin Card. Mayer
PrefectVirgilio Noe
Titular Archbishop of Voncaria
Secretary
NOTES:
103) Cf. General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, n. 213.
104) Cf. Roman Missal, Pentecost Sunday, final rubric; The Roman Ritual, Rite of Baptism for Children, Christian Initiation, General Introduction, n. 25.
105) Cf. General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, n. 22.
106) Cf. Ibidem, nn. 5. 23.
107) Cf. Ibidem, n. 58.
108) Cf. The Roman Ritual, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, nn. 235-237. Cf. Ibidem, nn. 238-239.
109) Cf. C.I.C., can. 920.
110) SRC, Decr. Maxima redemptionis nostrae mysteria (16 Nov. 1955), n.. 21, AAS 47 (1955), 847,
111) De Benedictionibus, caput I, II, Ordo benedictionis annuae familiarum in propriisdomibus.
112) Cf. Second Vatican Council, Constitution on them Sacred Liturgy SacrosanctumConcilium, n. 13. Cf, CCD Orientamenti e proposte per la celebrazione dell'anno mariano, (3 Apr. 1987), nn. 3, 51-56.
113) Cf. General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, n. 23.
114) It is possible to combine the celebration of first Vespers with the celebration of Mass as provided for in the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, n. 96. In order to have a more profound knowledge of the mystery of this day, it is possible to have several readings from Holy Scripture, as proposed in the Lectionary. In this case, after the collect the reader goes to the ambo to proclaim the reading. The psalmist or cantor sings the psalm, to which the people respond with the refrain. Then all stand and the priest says: Let us pray, and after a short silent pause, he says the prayer corresponding to the reading (for example, one of the collects for the ferial days of the seventh week of Easter).
115) St Leo the Great, Sermo 6 de Quadragesima, 1-2, PL 54, 285.
116) Cf. Roman Missal, Saturday of the Seventh week of Easter, Opening Prayer.
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
29 February 1988, page 15L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.
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