Easter Vigil
Last night I had the blessing of attending the Easter Vigil up at Westminster Abbey with a couple of my friends. The liturgy was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't help but smile the whole way through Mass thinking how grateful I am to be Catholic. I couldn't help but be in awe of the great love Christ has for His Bride, the Church.
The liturgy began at 10:00pm. It was pitch black in the Abbey church. Unfortunately it was raining so the congregation remained inside for the lighting of the Easter candle. Because the vigil was at a monastic community and not a parish church there were no baptisms or confirmations performed, and perhaps that's the only thing I really missed. That being said, I'm glad I went to the abbey.
A friend of mine who's a deacon and will be ordained to the priesthood on May 12th (please pray for him!) sang the exultet (Easter proclamation) and did a wonderful job of it.
The seminarians did the readings and did a fantastic job as well. They really read slowly and enunciate clearly which is much appreciated. The monks sang the responsorial psalms and sounded magnificient as usual.
Fr. Abbot gave the homily and linked each of the readings for the Easter Vigil Mass to the Eucharist, pointing us to the Eucharist as the heart of the Church. I really appreciated how he went connected the readings to the source and summit of the Faith, the Eucharist, because sometimes, with all those readings at the Easter Vigil it can feel like you're just reading through them all and not seeing where they are leading us or how they fit together.
Mass ended shortly around 12:15 am. After a little time of thanksgiving in prayer we gathered together briefly in the refrectory, and extended some Easter greetings to our friends.
And then we headed out around 12:45 am to Boston Pizza, a 24-hr restaurant. "We" being four girls, forty seminarians, and one deacon. An interesting mix I must say! Hahaha. Apparently it's tradition that all the major seminarians go out for a great "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" after the Easter Vigil (they get the Octave of Easter off). Some of our friends from the seminary invited us to join in on the fun, so how could we say no? It was great fun and they're a great bunch of guys. It's such an encouragement to hang out with them and see the future of the Church as well as to have the witness of young people with the courage to follow God and discern His will for their life. I'm certain that, God willing, some of these friends will make fantastic priests some day.
I ended up getting to bed around 4:00am. Unfortunately, I also ended up waking up at 7:30am. Oh, such is life. I did some studying (sick!) this morning and then decided to go spend some time in Adoration at the chapel at school. I then headed off to 11:30am Mass. After Mass I went for lunch at the house of a family I know. They'd invited anyone who was away from their families for Easter to come to their house. There were at least thirty people over for lunch and we even had an Easter egg hunt. Minus the fact that I really don't like eggs or chocolate, it was good fun! Now I'm home, doing some more studying, and looking forward to taking the evening off to watch a new mini-series on the pontificate of Pope John Paul II that is going to be shown on television tonight.
May God Bless you all on this feast of feasts and solemnity of solemnities!
The liturgy began at 10:00pm. It was pitch black in the Abbey church. Unfortunately it was raining so the congregation remained inside for the lighting of the Easter candle. Because the vigil was at a monastic community and not a parish church there were no baptisms or confirmations performed, and perhaps that's the only thing I really missed. That being said, I'm glad I went to the abbey.
A friend of mine who's a deacon and will be ordained to the priesthood on May 12th (please pray for him!) sang the exultet (Easter proclamation) and did a wonderful job of it.
The seminarians did the readings and did a fantastic job as well. They really read slowly and enunciate clearly which is much appreciated. The monks sang the responsorial psalms and sounded magnificient as usual.
Fr. Abbot gave the homily and linked each of the readings for the Easter Vigil Mass to the Eucharist, pointing us to the Eucharist as the heart of the Church. I really appreciated how he went connected the readings to the source and summit of the Faith, the Eucharist, because sometimes, with all those readings at the Easter Vigil it can feel like you're just reading through them all and not seeing where they are leading us or how they fit together.
Mass ended shortly around 12:15 am. After a little time of thanksgiving in prayer we gathered together briefly in the refrectory, and extended some Easter greetings to our friends.
And then we headed out around 12:45 am to Boston Pizza, a 24-hr restaurant. "We" being four girls, forty seminarians, and one deacon. An interesting mix I must say! Hahaha. Apparently it's tradition that all the major seminarians go out for a great "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" after the Easter Vigil (they get the Octave of Easter off). Some of our friends from the seminary invited us to join in on the fun, so how could we say no? It was great fun and they're a great bunch of guys. It's such an encouragement to hang out with them and see the future of the Church as well as to have the witness of young people with the courage to follow God and discern His will for their life. I'm certain that, God willing, some of these friends will make fantastic priests some day.
I ended up getting to bed around 4:00am. Unfortunately, I also ended up waking up at 7:30am. Oh, such is life. I did some studying (sick!) this morning and then decided to go spend some time in Adoration at the chapel at school. I then headed off to 11:30am Mass. After Mass I went for lunch at the house of a family I know. They'd invited anyone who was away from their families for Easter to come to their house. There were at least thirty people over for lunch and we even had an Easter egg hunt. Minus the fact that I really don't like eggs or chocolate, it was good fun! Now I'm home, doing some more studying, and looking forward to taking the evening off to watch a new mini-series on the pontificate of Pope John Paul II that is going to be shown on television tonight.
May God Bless you all on this feast of feasts and solemnity of solemnities!
posted by DP | 4:57 PM
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