From childhood till now you taught me to praise your wonders.

Psalm 71:17

“Yes, but, do we have to go to all three?” my own children asked at dinner last night as we discussed the family schedule for the week. The unequivocal answer is, “Yes.” It is right and good for children to celebrate the sacred Triduum, and most especially if those children are the elect.

For some reason, probably because family life is so chaotic, many initiation ministers think it is “too much” to ask children who are elect to spend three evenings in church celebrating the great paschal feast. However, consider that my middle school daughter has three track meets on three consecutive nights this week. And, many kids practice sports four nights a week and more! My point is that most kids today are accustomed to a busy schedule and it’s not too much to expect them to be at church for three nights.

A lot to ask

On the other hand, I would argue that it is a lot to ask the elect and their parents to be at church for three nights, and that is precisely the point. Sacramental initiation into the life of Christ is a big commitment, and we expect the young elect and their parents to be there. Don’t apologize, as I sometimes want to do, for expecting the children and their parents to fully participate in the Triduum. Help them to understand that it is an honor and privilege to participate in this sacred three day celebration.

It’s important to view the Triduum as one, unitive feast, rather than as three distinct and separate celebrations. We are asking families to come to one celebration, not three. “The Triduum is a single celebration of the paschal mystery presented over three days”(Roman Missal). The children in the RCIA are being fully initiated into the life of life of Christ. They are being incorporated into the paschal mystery. In order for the children and their families to have the best and richest experience possible, they need to participate in the entire paschal feast. Think of it as a festival which begins with Mass of the Lord’s Supper, continues with celebration of the Lord’s passion on Friday and culminates with Easter Vigil and the celebration of the sacraments of initiation.

Four suggestions

Here are four suggestions that you may want to consider as you begin your final preparations for your paschal festival with children in the RCIA.

1. Telephone each family to confirm final arrangements. Let them know they are in your prayers and remind them what time to be at church on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Tell them you’ll meet them at a certain place and sit together. Even though you’ve told them a thousand times, this telephone call allows you one more opportunity to personally touch base with them and address any last-minute concerns. It also reinforces how important it is for them to be there. Godparents or parish sponsors can also help make these telephone calls if you have a large number of children.
2. Help with the provision of child care for young children. Families with young children are often worried about whether their young children “can make it” through the three day celebration. You may need to provide onsite child care during the liturgies.
3. Make arrangements for a “break room” for children during the Vigil. You may want to consider having an area where children can “take a break” during the Vigil. Sometimes the Vigil is so long, that children need to leave for a few minutes, get a drink and relax before returning to the assembly. This may be the same room where children change into dry clothes after baptism. Remember, it’s a three day celebration so there is nothing wrong with taking a short break!
4. Celebrate the Preparation Rites on Holy Saturday (RCIA, nos. 185-192). Holy Saturday is a day of “reflection and prayer,” rather than a day for rehearsal (no. 186). Include the children in the preparation rites on Holy Saturday, especially the Ephphetaha Rite. It’s a very simple rite that’s effective with children and it can be the basis of your reflection for Saturday morning.

Lastly, take some time for your own personal prayer and reflection on the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. You’ve spent a lot of time and energy preparing these children to enter into the life of Christ. Now, give yourself some time to praise the wonders of God redeeming love.

Team member Rita Ferrone recently received a Best of the Christian Press award from the Associated Church Press. The award is for her April 10, 2009 Commonweal article, “Virgil & the Vigil: The Bees Are Back in the Exsultet.”

This Award of Merit (second place) in the category seasonal article was judged by Bill Droel. It says: Readers will more intelligently and more fully worship for reading the article. The research is good. The transitions are good. The tone is right.

The Associated Church Press, founded in 1916, is a professional organization brought together by a common commitment to excellence in journalism as a means to describe, reflect, and support the life of faith and the Christian community, according to its mission statement.

Congratulations Rita!

Here are some wonderful meditations for Holy Week from Rita Ferrone:

• Spy Wednesday

 

• Holy Thursday

 

• Good Friday

 

• Holy Saturday

 

• The Easter Vigil

The Paschal Triduum is the center of the liturgical year, and the Easter Vigil is its high point. It is the liturgy at which night turns into day, and death into resurrection.

Why vigil? St. Augustine had a pithy insight into this question: “We now need not wait for the Lord to arrive…. And yet our annual celebration is not simply a commemoration of a past event; it implies a present action on our part, which we accomplish by our life of faith and of which this Vigil is the symbol. The entire course of time is in fact one long night during which the church keeps watch, waiting for the return of the Lord, waiting “Ëœuntil He comes.’”

The Easter Vigil is a masterpiece of inculturation. The oldest annual celebration in the calendar, it bears the marks of its creative handling over almost two millennia. Let it wash over you, and lead you into the mystery of Easter tonight.

This liturgy is full of unsuspected delights.

One of the fabulous images for Holy Saturday is that of Jesus—after his descent into death—pulling Adam and Eve out of their tomb, their prison, and into the light and air. Their shackles fall away. Their eyes blink at the light. It’s the so-called “harrowing of hell” theme (it’s not really hell of course, but Sheol, “the land of the dead”—in Christian terms, the reality of having lived and died without knowing God’s gift in Christ). It reminds us that Jesus came to save all people, from the very beginning to the end of time.

Of course, it’s a human feeling to wonder about the fate of people who have died. For catechumens, coming for the most part from non-Christian families who did not hear or embrace Christ and his message, there is the special poignancy here. They have found Christ. They wish to celebrate his victory fully. But sometimes there is a shadow of sadness that someone dear will not be “at the table” with them on Holy Saturday night.

I do not think it’s always easy to put these things into words. But the image helps. The hands of Jesus reach out to Adam and Eve. He can do this.

Today’s Triduum liturgy includes a proclamation of the Passion according to John. Whether sung or spoken, this scripture passage is powerful. The symbolism in John’s account gives us much to meditate on-especially those of us engaged in the ministries of Christian initiation.

Here is one example: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother “ËœWoman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, “ËœHere is your mother.’ And from that hour, the disciple took her into his own home” (John 19:26-27). From the cross, Jesus forges a new relationship between Mary and John. We may be tempted to see this as a devotional message, or a sentimental one. How sweet. But it’s about something more fundamental.

As scripture scholar Raymond Brown observed in his great commentary on John’s gospel, the relationship between Mary and John shows us the Christian’s relationship to the Church. The relationship is reciprocal. Mary is mother to the beloved disciple, and the beloved disciple cares for Mary and takes her into his home. All of this speaks eloquently of the love of the community of disciples that Jesus leaves behind.

There are commands for us here, in the ministry of initiation. Church, take care of your disciples! Disciples, bring the church to where you live. Take her into your home!

The event of central importance on Holy Thursday will be the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper—the liturgy which begins the Triduum. I hope everybody is going to take part in this wonderful celebration! I won’t try to anticipate what takes place. Better to experience it for yourself.

Perhaps Holy Thursday is also a good time to pay some attention to how we dine at home. As you set your own table and prepare a meal on this day, be mindful of what a blessing it is to share food. The fact that Christ’s total self-giving love is wedded to the event of a meal should give us pause.

1. Rehearse on the Saturday before Palm Sunday (not on Holy Saturday)
2. Catechumens and candidates are not at rehearsal; their sponsors are and godparents are
3. 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
4. Rehearse with the lectors—a lot
5. Create a retreat day on Holy Saturday for the elect
6. The elect do not choose a baptismal name and candidates do not choose a confirmation name
7. Keep the focus of the Vigil on baptism
8. Begin after complete darkness
9. Build a bonfire for the new fire. Ask a boy scout. Better, ask a fire fighter (because they’re not afraid of big fires)
10. Notify the neighbors ahead of time about the fire
11. Buy a real candle for the Paschal Candle, not a white tube filled with oil
12. Don’t give individual candles to the elect until after they are baptized
13. Buy or rent a portable sound system for the blessing of the fire and candle
14. Choose music the entire parish knows well and can sing in the dark
15. 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
16. The Gloria is sung by all; it is never spoken
17. The Alleluia is sung by all; it is never spoken
18. Make the Gospel procession the biggest of the year, processing throughout the assembly
19. Proclaim more than the minimum required number of readings
20. Proclaim the Romans reading from memory, looking directly at the elect
21. Baptize by full immersion
22. Chant the blessing over the water
23. Pour more water into the font as the blessing is chanted
24. Invite the children present to come close enough to the font to see well
25. Chant the names of the elect instead of speaking them when you call them forward
26. Include the names of the elect in the Litany of Saints
27. The Litany of Saints is only sung if there are candidates for baptism
28. If you baptize someone, confirm them, including children
29. Use a handful of Chrism for each confirmation; rub it in, don’t wipe it off
30. Plan the ritual so the communion of the newly baptized is the climax of the liturgy
31. 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).
32. Plan a reception for the newly initiated following the liturgy
33. (click on comments to add another best practice)
34. (click on comments to add another best practice)
35. (click on comments to add another best practice)
36. (click on comments to add another best practice)

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.

We have a new pastor, and he told us that we are not supposed to be confirming adult Catholics at the Easter Vigil. If confirmation is an initiation sacrament, what’s wrong with celebrating it at the Vigil?

Your question raises a larger issue of who should be celebrating sacraments at the Easter Vigil. I’ve seen group weddings celebrated at the Vigil because the couples were being “initiated” into married life. Simply attaching the word “initiation” to a sacrament does not automatically mean is needs to be celebrated at the Vigil.

Primary purpose of the Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil is primarily for the initiation of unbaptized adults. If you turn to RCIA 23, you’ll read, “The celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation should take place at the Easter Vigil itself.” There are exceptions, but initiating unbaptized adults at the Vigil is the norm.

Children of catechetical age are considered “adults” for the purpose of the rite, but the Easter Vigil norm is a bit more flexible if they are under 14 years of age. Turn to paragraph 304 in the section on adaptations for children: “[C]elebration of the sacraments of initiation should preferably take place at the Easter Vigil or on a Sunday ” (emphasis added).

That’s really about it for the norm—the usual situation envisioned by the RCIA. Every other situation is some kind of an exception. Unfortunately, in some places, the exceptions are starting to become the norm. Let’s look at some of them.

Baptized, uncatechized adults

In many parishes, the baptized candidates make up the bulk of the catechumenate. It is not unusual in some places to have one or two catechumens and a couple dozen baptized candidates at the Easter Vigil. So should the baptized candidates celebrate confirmation and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil?

There are conflicting guidelines on this question. RCIA 409 says yes, the Easter Vigil would normally be the time when the baptized candidates would celebrate confirmation and Eucharist. The National Statutes for the Catechumenate, on the other hand, say no, it is not generally recommended that the baptized candidates celebrate confirmation and Eucharist at the Vigil (see NS 26 and 33).

Baptized Catholics

There is one more complicating factor with this group. Usually there are both Catholics and those baptized in another tradition. The National Statutes seem to suggest that, while it is not recommended, the Catholics might celebrate confirmation and Eucharist at the Vigil because they are, in fact, completing their initiation.

Baptized Protestants

The National Statutes state more strongly, however, that those baptized in another tradition not celebrate their sacraments at the Vigil. The reason for this is they are not “completing their initiation”; they are being received into full communion. The reason those from other traditions would not normally be received into full communion at the Vigil is to scrupulously avoid any “possible misunderstanding of or even reflection upon the sacrament of baptism celebrated in another Church or any perceived triumphalism in the liturgical welcome ” (NS 33). Exceptions are allowed, but reception at the Vigil is clearly not the norm.

So celebrating sacraments at the Easter Vigil with baptized candidates is a gray area, with Protestant candidates being a little grayer than Catholic candidates.

Baptized, catechized adults

Okay, right off the bat, let’s just be clear that if a Catholic, who has not been confirmed, is partaking in Communion every Sunday, or even only once a month, he is not completing his initiation in the way the RCIA speaks about initiation. The goal of initiation is sharing in the Eucharist. Those who are already at the table are already initiated. The DRE might cringe when you say it, but these folks are catechized. It doesn’t mean they are model Catholics, but if someone had decided they “knew enough” to bring them to Eucharist—no matter how long ago—that is all the RCIA requires to determine if someone is catechized. If they have forgotten how or refused to live the Christian life, that is a matter for reconciliation, not initiation.

Likewise with those baptized in another tradition. If they were active enough in their own tradition to have celebrated their version of the Lord’s Supper, they can be considered catechized. That does not mean they need zero preparation before they are received. It only means they should not be treated like catechumens. Their preparation should be accommodated to their needs, and they should be received into full communion as soon as possible (see NS 31).

The only place for baptized, catechized candidates at the Vigil is in the worshiping assembly, praying for those who are to be baptized.

“Restored order” children

I’m not crazy about the term “restored order,” but that’s what most folks call it. As you know, the traditional order of the initiation sacraments is baptism, confirmation, Eucharist. Early in the 20th century, for pastoral, not theological reasons, that order got disrupted. So most of us who were baptized as infants celebrated first Communion around age seven and were confirmed five to ten years later. Now some parishes are returning to the original practice of initiating children in the traditional order. That means there are a lot of seven-year-old Catholics who are celebrating confirmation and first Communion in the same liturgy.

Because this is a completion of their initiation, some parishes have begun to bring these children to the Easter Vigil also. I think that is a mistake. While it is true these children are completing their initiation, they are not catechumens and are in no way like catechumens. For example, these children were never “inquirers,” and they are typically members of practicing Catholic families. (I know there are exceptions, but exceptions should not establish the rule.) Also, the numbers of them tend to be large. So even a small parish might have 100-plus children “completing” their initiation at the Vigil. That would surely shift the focus of the liturgy away from the initiation of the catechumens.

Managing the exceptions

As I see it, the only folks who should absolutely celebrate initiation sacraments at the Vigil are catechumens over the age of 14 and possibly younger catechumens. Remember, however, the rite indicates that Sunday liturgy can be just as appropriate for the young ones.

Baptized, uncatechized Catholic adults who are completing their initiation might also celebrate their sacraments at the Vigil, but this is a gray area.
Everyone else should usually be celebrating their sacraments at some other time and place.

Usually. There are always going to be exceptions. These are the norms to strive for. The question I always ask myself is not did I do everything perfectly, by the book. Rather, I ask what plans I will put in place for next year so our parish can move a little closer to the ideal. If we can continually work just a little closer toward the vision of the rite, we won’t be in danger of letting the exceptions become the norm.

Joe Paprocki has some serious concerns about Catholics celebrating a Seder Meal that I think are worth reading. His first point is the strongest:

First and foremost, the Seder Meal is a sacred Jewish ritual. For Catholics to re-enact this sacred ritual is disrespectful of the Jewish tradition. (Imagine Jewish or Muslim children re-enacting a Catholic Mass, complete with the giggling and awkward moments that are part of any children’s production). The Seder Meal is a Jewish tradition that Catholics should enjoy only if we are privileged to be welcomed to a Jewish Passover table.

Read his entire post here.