Easter Vigil by Sharon Espeseth

 What is it about Easter Vigil that grabs my heart, soul and imagination? In the Catholic Church, we have the option to attend the Vigil on the evening of Holy Saturday or the Easter Sunday Service or both. Because I am in music ministry, I often participate in both of these services.

Both masses honour our Risen Lord and end on a high note of Alleluias, but Easter Vigil features more drama, history, music, canting, and background to the Easter story. The liturgy on Holy Saturday makes the transition from Lent to the Season of Easter. The Easter observation goes from the solemnity to eucharisteo, meaning joy and thanksgiving..

Through Scripture readings, psalms and a cappella singing, we review the sequence of God's people through tough times and good times. Beginning with creation and humankind's fall into sin, we hear of the Israelites wrong turns and God's forgiveness. (I can relate.) We hear from the prophets and visualize the unfolding of God's merciful and loving plan of salvation.

Easter Vigil starts at 9:00 p.m., when darkness falls. You may be lucky to get home before midnight. Many of us still love this full spiritual "meal" even if it takes time to savour and digest what we are taking in.

Easter Vigil Comes in Four Parts.

I could go into great detail  about each segment of the service, but instead I will share my experience of the Vigil.

1. Service of Light:

A different atmosphere is set. Lights in the church are off. The holy water fonts have been drained. The tabernacle that contains the holy eucharist is empty. In our parish, we assemble in the courtyard where a new fire is lit and blessed. Most years it's chilly out there as we huddle around a BBQ.

The priest lights the Paschal Candle from the new fire as he prays, "May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds." The candle is then processed through the church. The priest or a deacon--but we don't have a deacon now--lifts the candle at three different times, while singing, "The Light of Christ." The congregation sings in reply, "Thanks be to God. "

The Pascal Candle

Inside the dark church, the priest lights the candles of the altar servers, who then go down the rows
lighting candles. We each share the light and in a short time the whole church is candlelit.

I enjoy the symbolism of our sharing the Light of Christ and seeing what a difference we can make by doing so. When the church is thus aglow, our cantor, unaccompanied, sings The Exsultet, or the Easter Proclamation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd_l8MHC2Dw

(By googling you can also find the magnificent lyrics of this proclamation.) The Proclamation ends the first portion of the liturgy for Easter Vigil.

2. Liturgy of the Word

Nine readings--seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament--are provided for the liturgy, but the vigil gets lengthy when you use all nine readings. The priest determines the number of readings to be done, but there must be at least three of these readings. And yes, we have done all nine.

Pixabay Free Image

We follow a pattern: reading, psalm, prayer, for as many readings as we are doing. Members of the Music Ministry cant a responsorial psalm as a solo or, perhaps, a duet. The congregation responds with each refrain.


The Mass Begins

Right here we experience a shift. The overhead electric lights are turned on and altar servers begin to boldly ring the bells at the altar. During our opening hymn, replete with Alleluias, which have been absent during Lent, the pianist commands the keyboard. Our floutist plays the flute. Guitarists strum their strings and singers sing with joyful hearts.

A number of members of varying ages process down the aisles carrying Easter lilies and placing them on the steps leading to the altar and at also at the foot of the altar. These Easter symbols will remain there during the Easter season. Our mood has changed from sombre to celebratory. We are honouring and praising Christ, our Risen Lord.

3. Liturgy of Baptism

Often when our church receives adults or older children into the church, this happens at Easter Vigil during the Liturgy of Baptism. The Easter water is blessed. New members are baptized into the church. As the candidates say their baptismal promises, we the congregants join them, thus renewing our own commitment.

The priest then proceeds down the aisle sprinkling the congregation with water that has been blessed. As we receive the sprinkling we each do the sign of the cross, signifying, "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The musicians sing a "water song" such as "O Healing River," with great joy and little restraint.

4. Liturgy of the Eucharist

We are invited to join in partaking of the body and blood of Christ, which, to me, becomes all the more meaningful because of my reviewing my faith during the Easter Vigil.

The mass concludes with our priest intoning the words, "The Mass is ended, go in peace, Alleluia, Alleluia. We respond singing, "Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia."

The Mass is ended and I affirm in my heart, "I know my Saviour lives, because he lives within my heart." We go out greeting one another with a handshake or a "holy hug," a "Happy Easter!" or "Christ Is Risen."

Christ + Mass = Christmas by Nina Faye Morey

I remember how amazed I was when I was making cards and my teacher told me how to spell Christmas. Until I was eight years old, I had no idea that the first five letters spelled the title of the King of Kings. ~ Bruce Atchison

While Bruce had no idea as a youngster that the “Christ” in Christmas referred to the King of Kings, I was a young adult before I realized that the “mas” referred to the word, “Mass.” Having grown up in a family that was nominally Protestant, I wasn’t familiar with either the word “Mass” or “Eucharist” until I married into a devout Roman Catholic family.

I still remember how stunned I felt when I heard my husband explaining to our little ones what the word “Christmas” meant. It was one of those “slap the forehead” moments for me. I had never given any thought to the meaning of the “mas” part of the word. Now that it had been pointed out, it seemed so obvious it referred to “Christ’s Mass.” Of course, I knew that it was a commemoration of Christ’s birth, but my family’s holiday celebrations focused more on the secular aspects. I decided to look up the meaning of some of the other words associated with this celebration. I discovered that “Nativity” was derived from the Latin word, nātīvitās, meaning “birth.” Another familiar seasonal word, “Noel,” from the Old French word, noël, is also derived from this Latin word.

As a youngster, I never attended any Christmas religious services with my family. However, I do recall attending regular church services a couple of times with my dad. I fondly remember enjoying stories and colouring pictures in Sunday School on those occasions. In my early teens, I sometimes attended a church service while visiting a devout aunt. A classmate invited me to summer Bible camp one year and, occasionally, to some of her church’s youth activities. But Christmas mainly consisted of Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas presents, Christmas stories, and, of course, Christmas dinner with family when I was young.

After I was married, Christmas came to mean so much more. A major part of the celebrations was attending Midnight Mass with my husband and his family. Then my mother-in-law would have all the family members present over to her house for a late-night snack. To her, a “snack” was no meager amount of food, even at this late hour. I enjoyed this whole Christmas Eve tradition immensely. It carried on for many years, despite the increase in her family’s size through marriage and grandchildren, until she no longer felt able to continue. I cherish those memories and still miss her contribution to our Christmas celebrations.

As a young mom, I wanted to provide a different Christmas experience for my children. Sure, we had the usual festivities associated with Christmas: Christmas baking, decorating the Christmas tree, wrapping Christmas presents, watching Christmas movies, and reading children’s stories like “The Night before Christmas.” But a miniature Nativity scene was added to our holiday decorations, and I enjoyed reading them the biblical story of Jesus’s birth. And, of course, we always attended Christmas Mass—just not the midnight one until they were old enough.

Having discovered both the “Christ” and the “Mass” in Christmas, I now enjoy the full meaning, spirit, and blessings of the season. All those precious Christmas gifts and colourful Christmas lights pale in comparison to the One who is the true gift and light of Christmas:

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

~ James 1:17 (NIV)

Merry Christmas, everyone! May you experience the peace and joy of Christ in your hearts and souls this Christmas.

Photo Credit: © 2017 Nina Faye Morey

Gift(s) of Everlasting Life by Sharon Espeseth

Everlasting and Eternal Gifts

This Christmas I'd like spiritual gifts for myself, my loved ones, and anyone really. . . Using the Bible as our catalogue, we will find an abundance of things free for the asking--God's love, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. We, created by God, can admit we need help.







Emmanuel: God with Us

God loved us so much He sent His Son to be our Emmanuel,  God living with us. People thought God's Son would be a political king or a man of means. Instead He came as a baby, born of a young virgin, engaged to Joseph, a descendant of David. The angel Gabriel came to Mary and explained the role God wanted her to take in His plan. Mary couldn't know what this meant in the future, but she trusted God and became the vessel to bring God's son to us. Joseph accepted his call to be Jesus' earthly father.


Jesus Begins His Ministry

We don't read much of Jesus' life until the Wedding at Cana, where Mary asked her son to turn water into wine. The hosts had run out of wine. Jesus performed His first miracle--turning water into wine, and He did it for his mother and as a kindness to the wedding party.

Fully human and fully divine, Jesus needed to spend time with His Heavenly Father. While Jesus,  was with us, He taught us how to relate to God and how to relate to our fellow human beings.

In Mark 12:30, we read the New Commandments Jesus gave. First, Jesus says, "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength." Secondly, "Love your neighbour as yourself." Not only did Jesus give us these new commandments, but he also practiced them in daily life.

God's Son was tempted and tested, like we are, but even more so. The Pharisees and Sadducees watched his every move and asked questions to "trick" him into saying he was the Messiah, the Son of God. Admitting his divinity would be considered blasphemous and then they would have reason to kill him.

In the meantime, Jesus walked among ordinary people like us and talked to people of any race, creed, or moral standing. He visited and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes,  lawyers, and common people in all walks of life.

Loving Us As We Are

One example of His acceptance is the story of Jesus asking the Samaritan woman for a drink of water. Jesus stepped over the "rule" that Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. The woman expressed her surprise

"If you knew the gift of God."

at Him, a Jew, asking her, a Samaritan for a drink. (Story in John 4:7-42.)

Jesus replied, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Jesus told this common  woman that He was the Messiah. She believed and went to tell the people of her town what had happened. By her testimony, they also believed. Jesus didn't talk to the leaders of the town, he spoke to a woman he knew had had five husbands and she wasn't married to the man she presently lived with.

The Gift of Eternal Life

When it was God's time, Jesus obedientl took our sins upon Himself and made His way down the streets of Jerusalem. With the help of Simon, a passer-by, Jesus carried the burden of the heavy cross, but Jesus alone carried the sins of the world.

In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion, Jesus agonized and prayed to His Father, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done." (Luke 22:42)

God loved us so much that He gave us His Son. Jesus loved God and loved us so much that He surrendered to God's will. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we have the gift of eternal life.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. The
Holy Spirit, as part of the Godhead Three, also comes with a basket full of gifts to make our lives more abundant. By living close to God and listening to the Holy Spirit, we will receive His fruits as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. ,

The Gift of Availability

In Revelations 3:20, Jesus reminds us, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with this person, and they with me."

God Answers Prayers

Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt. 7:7-8)

The Gift of the Eucharist

At the Last Supper, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples. . . "He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"

The Eucharist is spiritual food. By eating it we are giving thanks, remembering Christ, and asking for help in serving God.

The Gift of God's Word

God has entrusted prophets, teachers and writers to record the books and stories that make up the Bible which is God's Word. Paul in his second letter to Timothy says of God's word, "Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us." (2 Timothy 3:16 The Message)

One More Gift

I stand corrected by God's Word, for there is one more important gift that we may humbly receive. That is grace, God's grace. After receiving all these wonderful gifts, we don't need to think we are something special.

Paul says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not of works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

My Prayer for You at Christmas

Throughout the Christmas Season and through the New Year, may God grant you the Love, Peace

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

and Joy that comes from Faith, Family and Friends. May God season you with large sprinkles of Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness and Self-control. Amen.

Eucharist = Give Thanks by Sharon Espeseth

"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, 

'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'"

Bestselling author, Ann Voskamp, explains that "Eucharisteo" from the original Greek 

of the New Testament, translates as, "He gave thanks."

(See  the interview, "Don't Worry, Be Thankful: Eucharist" with Ann Voskamp"

on The High Calling website "theologyofwork.org".)

A few months back, I finished reading Ann Voskamp's book,
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. Reading this book took me a while, as it was a "full meal deal." Although Voskamp's writing is poetically full of beautiful imagery, this was no light and fluffy cream puff to read. The memoir elements of the book teased me on to the next page, but then I would have to let the theological thoughts digest before taking on another course. Layer upon layer, I read this book and, like a solid meal, it is staying with me. I have read parts of
the book over two or three times and I have underlined generously in pencil, so I would not permanently deface the book





Our readings at mass this past Sunday included the story of Elisha telling Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman wasn't at all pleased about washing himself seven time in the muddy Jordan, but his servants convinced him to follow Elisha's directions. By doing this distasteful task, he was cleansed and went back to thank Elisha and to praise Elisha's God.

Another scripture reading was the healing of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. Jesus heard the lepers calling to him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"


Seeing them at a distance, Jesus said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." As they walked away, they were cleansed. One of them seeing he was healed, "turned back, praising God with a loud voice." This one man, a Samaritan, prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.

Speaking to the healed man, Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?" Jesus pointed out that the only man returning to praise God was a foreigner.

God is loving, giving and forgiving, but we express our ingratitude to him when we forget to say grace at meals and to thank him for all he has done and continues to do in our lives.






Today, as an act of celebrating Thanksgiving and a delayed reaction to my reading of One Thousand Gifts, I have started my own book of One Thousand Gifts.






On a lighter note, Charlie Brown, hugging his dog, Snoopy says, "What if today we were just grateful for everything?"