32 best RCIA practices for Easter Vigil
- Rehearse on the Saturday before Palm Sunday (not on Holy Saturday)
- Catechumens and candidates are not at rehearsal; their sponsors are and godparents are
- The pastor and the Vigil presider (if it is not the pastor) do not need to lead the rehearsal, but they need to be there
- Rehearse with the lectors—a lot
- Create a retreat day on Holy Saturday for the elect
- The elect do not choose a baptismal name and candidates do not choose a confirmation name
- Keep the focus of the Vigil on baptism
- Begin after complete darkness
- Build a bonfire for the new fire. Ask a boy scout. Better, ask a fire fighter (because they’re not afraid of big fires)
- Notify the neighbors ahead of time about the fire
- Buy a real candle for the Paschal Candle, not a white tube filled with oil
- Don’t give individual candles to the elect until after they are baptized
- Buy or rent a portable sound system for the blessing of the fire and candle
- Choose music the entire parish knows well and can sing in the dark
- The Exsultet is sung by the best singer in the parish. It is only sung by the presider (or deacon) if he is the best singer in the parish
- The Gloria is sung by all; it is never spoken
- The Alleluia is sung by all; it is never spoken
- Make the Gospel procession the biggest of the year, processing throughout the assembly
- Proclaim more than the minimum required number of readings
- Proclaim the Romans reading from memory, looking directly at the elect
- Baptize by full immersion
- Chant the blessing over the water
- Pour more water into the font as the blessing is chanted
- Invite the children present to come close enough to the font to see well
- Chant the names of the elect instead of speaking them when you call them forward
- Include the names of the elect in the Litany of Saints
- The Litany of Saints is only sung if there are candidates for baptism
- If you baptize someone, confirm them, including children
- Use a handful of Chrism for each confirmation; rub it in, don’t wipe it off
- Plan the ritual so the communion of the newly baptized is the climax of the liturgy
- Just before saying, “This is the Lamb of God,” call the newly baptized forward, by name, and speak a short, poetic reminder “of the preeminence of the Eucharist, which is the climax of their initiation and the center of the whole Christian life” (RCIA 243).
- Plan a reception for the newly initiated following the liturgy
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For guidelines on how to celebrate the Easter Vigil, get a copy of The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum. Click here for more information.
Tags: Easter Vigil
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Can you say more about why we should not give individual candles to the newly Baptized at the easter Vigil? thanks Cindy
Hi Cindy. That could probably go either way. The rite doesn’t say anything one way or the other. But I like the symbolism of the elect waiting until after their baptism to receive the light from the Christ candle.
Nick
We always have the elect wait to receive the Light of Christ until called for during the explanatory rites following their baptism. To make the symbolism all the more powerful, their initiation candles are small versions of our full Paschal candle with the same decorative banding. It then becomes a really powerful gesture when those baptized last year bring their initiation candle back to be relit from this year’s Paschal candle.
Great idea Andrew!