(EPISODE: 292)
Readings for VIGIL
Easter Proclamation: (The Exsultet)
Old Testament Readings and Psalms (Selections from below):
• Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 and Response - Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18
• Isaiah 55:1-11 and Isaiah 12:2-6
• New Testament Reading and Psalm
• Romans 6:3-11 and Psalm 114
Gospel - Mark 16:1-8
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed.Image ID – 177734369. VIENNA, AUSTRIA - FEBRUARY 17, 2014: Fresco of Resurrected Christ in Carmelites church in Dobling from beginning of 20. cent. by Josef Kastner.By Renata Sedmakova
Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and
homily), for Holy Saturday night –
vigil- 3rd April 2021 by clicking this link here:
(EPISODE: 292)
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* (Prologue: Fr Paul Kelly) Easter 2021
A spiritual writer once said … and put it so beautifully for us who have been keeping vigil in meditation and prayer, right up until this wonderful night…..
He writes:
"One of the powerful things that Easter says to us today, is this: You can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. You can nail truth to a cross, or wrap it in winding sheets; and shut it in a tomb, but it will rise again! " (Clarence W. Hall).
Tonight we celebrate the fact that Christ has risen….he has Risen Indeed!
He, who IS the way, the truth and the Life….. could not possibly be held in death's grasp for too long. He broke free and promises us eternal life too.
God has the final say over the tensions and tragedies of life…..… and it is good news…. God says "yes" to the goodness of creation and "Yes" to each one of us…… it was right to remain faithful // our hope in his promises is fulfilled…..
EASTER IS ABOUT FAMILY – first and foremost – we are all one family of God… God loves us and cares about us… and is faithful us forever…… and desires with all his heart that we love others with his heart too…Easter is also about our own individual families (sharing time for family, or if we are not able to be with them this easter, certainly giving thanks for the gift of them in our lives…)…..and giving thanks to God for the many ways in which God brings us to the fullness of life even on this side of Heaven.
We give thanks for our FAMILY, our friends….and for so many graces and blessings we have received in life… to nurture us and give us strength and joy……
Easter is the perfect time for celebrating Baptisms and welcoming people into our church communion……. We give thanks for those who will be baptized and received into the church this season. God's gentle grace has led them here… and their decision is a great source of renewal and thanksgiving for the whole community.
Easter is not only about the promise of everlasting life in heaven,..// .. there are so many ways in which Jesus' rising from the dead is a sign of God's constant work to "bring us out of the entombment" that we can experience in our lives…// // Tonight is also about the real promise that "God can and does" want us to be "fully alive".,… // and renewed in spirit and mind…. and brought to life again from so many things that can sap the life out of us…. weigh us down…. and imprison us…… whether it be fear, guilt, pain, illness, doubt, grief…… or countless other equally painful struggles….
Anyone who has ever gone through a "dark night of the soul" in their life, (and that is each of us at one time or another)…….and has come through the other end and now finds themselves in a renewed place, raised up again, (never imagining that they would be in this new space) but here they are!!!….with the help of God's grace, (shown by the helping hands of family, friends, colleagues, ….and so many other ways…)…. anyone who has gone through this can testify… Christ really IS at work brining us to new life (in so many ways)…… and Tonight we give thanks for this…. and pray for those who continue to hope and trust in God's faithfulness…. // God's love and care for us will never fail….. God effects resurrection IN our lives, in ways beyond our expectations….. beyond our presumptions or in ways different from the literal limits of our requests ….. Often, we only recognize a 'resurrection moment in our lives' with a kind of 'dawning realization' - like Mary Magdalene: thinking that someone had hidden the body of our Lord….. searching and praying that she might find where they had hidden his body….… and not at first realizing that her prayers had been answered in this man she initially mistakes for a gardener, (but no, it is the Lord himself)…..
I would like to conclude with an ode… a short poem written to express the truth of the Lord's Rising in our life journey….Anyone who can sing the words of this ode (or their own unique variation for their own life situation) knows that the resurrection is a reality ….. here and now…. in the lives of each of us:
"Lord, only you know
the path of fire
we've been through
these past years.
But we made it
a miracle of grace,
Not by our own strength,
But only 'cos we'd cling to you
Today I arise,
though I still bear the wounds
Today it begins,
One step after another;
Some days backwards,
Mostly forward.
No longer in darkness
for That's in the past
Today I arise, //
today we begin…..
This "new day" dawns…
Lord, this -- new day dawns…!!"
(words by P.W. Kelly).[1]
May the Lord of the resurrection bless you and renew you with fullness of life – here and now (and forever)….
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(Homily: Fr Peter Dillon).
Homily Easter Sunday Year B-2021 – Fr Peter Dillon.
In order for us to fully grasp the significance of Easter we need to be people of vision. We need to be able to imagine what was happening for Jesus and those watching. It is a confronting picture, but a necessary depiction, for we cannot soften its impact if we wish to appreciate its relevance to us today.
Imagine Jesus, still in death, laid in the tomb, yanked abruptly awake. In the last few hours of his life as a man, his back had been flayed to shreds, his scalp ripped open by thorns, his wrists and ankles torn by metal spikes, his side slashed with a lance. He has died slowly of thirst and sheer physical trauma but finally, mercifully, he has had the respite of death.
Yet now, his wounds open again, and the horror of the preceding days fills his eyes and ears, if only for a brief moment. Then there is, maybe, a flash of light, a violent tug, momentary agony. Maybe he fights it, wanting to lie down again. Or, more likely, he rises above it ‑‑ and there follows the absolute relief and peace of joining his Heavenly Father."
Of course it didn't happen exactly like that ‑‑ whatever happened is wrapped in mystery. But let us imagine the Christ who does not want to rise! But there is here a leap of imagination to grasp some spiritual reality. It catches the continuity between crucifixion and resurrection. It hints not so much at the more commonly confident Christ with a flag in his hand that echoes a triumphalist church; it reflects rather the unfinished business of ongoing Easter.
A poem by Elizabeth Cheney speaks of Christ's resurrection as unfinished business aspect. Finding Jesus on the cross, unable to get down, the poet ‑‑ who presumably speaks for us all ‑‑ volunteers to take the nails out: But he said:
Let them be,
For I cannot be taken down
Until every man, every woman and every child
Comes together to take me down."
Go about the world ‑‑
Tell every one that you meet
There is a man on the cross."
And he is in the throes of rising from the dead.
The women on Easter morning are preoccupied with the question: 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? It is a valid question but when their journey brings them closer to Christ, they find the answer - the stone has already been rolled back.
I have risen: I am with you once more.
Once again, God erupts in our lives. It is time to throw off the sombre mourning clothes of Lent and to proclaim to the world the joyful message of Easter.
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Our Easter Vigil Liturgy is too rich and too full for me to attempt any long explanations.
To grasp some understanding we simply need to follow the most ancient tradition of the church. We keep vigil for the Lord who passes from death to life. By keeping his Passover we hope to share in his victory over death.
We have brought the Easter candle into the darkened church to remind ourselves again that Christ is our Light, the only one who can dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.
We have listened to God's word, calling to mind the wonderful things God has done for his people from the beginning of time.
We heard the words of Paul: 'Christ was raised from the dead by God's glory, so we too might live a new life'.
That new life came to us first in the living waters of Baptism. Soon we will witness new members of the Church reborn in Baptism, received into full communion with the Catholic Church, confirmed with the Holy Spirit, the outpouring of God's love. We are inspired and challenged by those of our community who are joining us through the RCIA process- their joy and enthusiasm will help us to commit ourselves even more strongly to our belief in:
the holy Catholic church
the communion of saints
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and life everlasting.
Finally, we will approach the table to receive the bread of life, that bread becomes for us yet another symbol of Christ's rising:
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References:
Homily – fr peter Dillon
Prologue - Fr Paul W. Kelly
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed.Image ID – 177734369. VIENNA, AUSTRIA - FEBRUARY 17, 2014: Fresco of Resurrected Christ in Carmelites church in Dobling from begin of 20. cent. by Josef Kastner.By Renata Sedmakova
Holy Saturday night – vigil- 3rd april 2021. Year b (EPISODE: 292)
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PREFACE: Easter I
EP II
(theme variation: 3 )
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to our weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)
"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.
Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).
"Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011, Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski
Featuring the….Gloria, plus also the Alleluia, Exsultet: http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/ ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/
- "Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - in memory of William John Kelly - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
"Quiet Time." Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.
- "Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
[ Production - KER - 2021]
May God bless and keep you.
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