Liturgical Resource for Easter Season 2011

The very heart of the Triduum is the Easter Vigil, for there the fasting, prayer, and scripture reading culminate in the celebration of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Planners should therefore give first attention to the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, then to the liturgical services of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Other devotional services, e.g., Stations of the Cross, rosaries, etc., should in no way detract from the preparation of music and liturgy for the rites of Lent, the Triduum, and Eastertime.

Funerals during Triduum. A funeral Mass may not be celebrated on Holy Thursday (even before the celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper), Good Friday, Holy Saturday, or Easter Sunday. If needed on these days, the body of the deceased may be brought to the church for the rite of final commendation, including the incensation and blessing of the body with holy water. Other appropriate prayers may also be added. The funeral Mass for the deceased should be celebrated as soon as convenient after Easter Sunday. At this funeral liturgy, the final commendation would be omitted.
Marriages during Triduum. The Rite of Marriage may not be celebrated on Good Friday or Holy Saturday.

Holy Thursday

Number of Masses. The Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper should be celebrated at the most suitable evening hour. There may be a liturgy on Thursday morning only "for those who are in no way able to take part in the evening Mass." This would discourage school Masses, but it would be appropriate for children to take part in other services marking the end of Lent and the approach of the Triduum. Thus, the ideal is a single Holy Thursday Mass in a parish, and only the inability of the space to accommodate those who wish to attend should suggest the possibility of a second Mass. In no way should the scheduling of a second liturgy cause either liturgy to be rushed.
The private celebration of any Mass is strictly forbidden.

Empty Tabernacle. The tabernacle should be empty before the liturgy begins. Enough bread should be consecrated at this Mass for Holy Communion today and tomorrow. Consecrated wine is not to be reserved for distribution on Good Friday. Though Holy Communion may be brought to the sick today, Holy Communion may be distributed at the church itself only within the Mass.

Parts of the Mass. The custom of receiving the newly blessed oils can be incorporated into the Mass of the Lord's Supper. The washing of feet (Mandatum) is encouraged in all parishes. This rite should be characterized by its simplicity, allowing the beautiful gesture of service to speak to all of ministry in the church. The Mandatum itself is a powerful sign of our love and commitment to one another and of the nature of that commitment. We must resist the temptation to replace the Mandatum with something "more appropriate" or "more relevant," remembering that Peter, too, thought that the washing of feet was inappropriate for the Last Supper liturgy. The group whose feet are washed should represent a cross-section of the local community. The number is traditionally twelve, though there is no exact requirement.

Other rites and statements of commitment are not appropriate at the liturgy of Holy Thursday, for they would not find support from either the rites or from the scriptures. Rituals for the commissioning of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, parish officers, or even renewal of priestly vows, are best celebrated on the feast of the patron of the parish, on the parish anniversary, or at some other time.
The Sacramentary instructs that the collection of gifts and money today be for the poor.

As noted above, Holy Communion under both kinds is the norm for the archdiocese. This takes on even greater meaning on this day, and thus some additional care in planning will add greater richness to the meaning of this celebration. For example, using the parish's best vessels would be most appropriate.

Following the Prayer after Communion, the Holy Eucharist is transferred to the place of reposition. This may be the regular tabernacle if it is in an area removed from the sanctuary. The Blessed Sacrament is never to be reserved in a monstrance during this time. The rite for this procession is described in the Sacramentary.

After the transfer of the Holy Eucharist, the altar is stripped privately, and any crosses are removed or covered with a red or purple veil. Lamps should not be lit before images of saints. Holy water is removed from all fonts, to be refilled with water blessed at the Easter Vigil. They should not be filled with sand.

"The faithful should be encouraged to continue adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for a suitable period of time during the night, according to local circumstances, but there should be no solemn adoration after midnight" (Sacramentary).

Good Friday

The Good Friday liturgy is a part of the Triduum, which is one great feast celebrated over three days;

it is not just an elaborate "Communion service." The Good Friday liturgy may never be abandoned, reordered, or replaced by other rites or services, including ecumenical services.

Because Good Friday is part of the one feast called the Triduum, the pastor of the community, or the priest responsible for sacramental care, is the presider. The liturgy with its Communion Rite should never give the appearance of a concelebration.

Liturgy of the Hours. It is recommended that there be a communal celebration of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer on both Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Celebration of the Lord's Passion. The celebration of the Lord's Passion should take place about 3pm, but for pastoral reasons may be at a later hour, or as early as 12 noon. In any case, the celebration should conclude by 9pm. The service may be repeated only when the number wishing to attend would be too large for the church.

The Passion. Readers and pastoral musicians are encouraged to study the rubrics for the proclamation of the Passion. There is a Gospel Acclamation as usual, and a deacon receives the blessing as usual (lay readers do not receive a blessing). Omitted are candles and incense, the greeting and response ("The Lord be with you..."), the making of the sign of the cross on the book, forehead, lips, and breast, and the people's response ("Glory to you, Lord").

Since this is a reading from the Gospel, the appropriate posture for the assembly during the reading of the Passion is standing. Some priests direct the assembly to sit during this time, but such an invitation to "get comfortable" for the Passion narrative seems incongruous with the attitude the liturgy is meant to convey, which is that of union with Christ in his suffering and death. For two thousand years, people have been quite willing to tolerate any discomfort with standing on the rare occasions when the Lord's Passion is proclaimed.

The deacon and/or priest may be assisted by lectors in the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. As always, but especially on these days, the lectors chosen for this should be well-trained and highly proficient in the proclamation of the Word.

Veneration of the cross. A cross or crucifix may be used for the veneration. The Roman Missal directs that only one cross should be used in the veneration.
During the veneration, music planners should avoid selections that offer facile sentiment, as the spirit of the ritual of veneration has no place for this type of music or song.

After the veneration, the cross is positioned near the altar and four candles are placed near it. The cross will remain there and the candles will remain lit for a period of time following the service to allow the faithful to spend some additional time in prayer before the cross.

Communion. Holy Communion is distributed only within the liturgy of the Lord's Passion, but may be taken to the sick at any time this day.

After Communion. After the Blessed Sacrament has been returned to its place of reservation, the presider says the Prayer Over The People from the Sacramentary. Then, all depart in silence. As mentioned above, the cross (with lighted candles) remains available for private prayer for a period of time. The altar is stripped at a convenient time.

Holy Saturday
Holy Communion may be given on this day only as Viaticum. Ordinary Communion visits to the sick should be made earlier in the week and on Easter. Communion visits are not permitted on this day, nor are Masses, even funeral Masses. The absence of these liturgical celebrations is in keeping with the nature and mood of this day.

The Easter Vigil
The tabernacle is empty for the Easter Vigil. All bread that will be used for Holy Communion is to be EasterBaptism2

consecrated at the Vigil, offering us the model of what should happen at every celebration of the Eucharist throughout the year.

Time of celebration. "The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes place at night. It should not begin before nightfall; it should end before daybreak on Sunday" (Sacramentary). The Circular Letter Concerning the Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts, issued by the Vatican in 1988, is even stronger by insisting that the Easter Vigil must start only after it is dark. This rule is to be taken according to its strictest sense. Reprehensible are those abuses and practices which have crept into many places in violation of this ruling, whereby the Easter Vigil is celebrated at the time of day that it is customary to celebrate anticipated Sunday Masses.

The Bishops' Committee on Liturgy (BCL) Newsletter, March 2001, states the Easter Vigil "is to take place in darkness... that is, after the time in the evening when daylight is last visible. This time is roughly equivalent to [the end of] astronomical twilight as defined by the Naval Observatory. The time after which 'the sun does not contribute to sky illumination.'" However, it has been observed locally that true darkness seems to come much earlier than this computation provides, particularly at inland locations where the Olympic Mountains provide an earlier "sunset" and "end of twilight" than indicated by the astronomical tables. Specifically, at such inland locations, total darkness seems to occur as early as an hour after sunset. Thus, each pastor needs to make the appropriate determination for his parish.

Pastors may wish to give consideration to establishing a fixed time for the Easter Vigil to be used every year, in which case an appropriate starting time would reflect an Easter Vigil occurring in mid-April. Thus, an appropriate "perennial" starting time would be 9pm for the Seattle area and 9:45pm for coastal and southern areas of the archdiocese.

The Easter Season

The Triduum is concluded liturgically with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. The Triduum leads us to the Easter season, the fifty days from Easter Sunday until after Evening Prayer on Pentecost Sunday. This is the Church's most ancient season and, now that the full rites of Christian initiation are restored, it may again be possible for Eastertime to be kept as a special season for Catholics, with its music, customs, and cycle of scriptures.

For additional guidelines for the Easter Season click here