Easter — Alleluia of the Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil of the night of Holy Saturday — called by St Augustine «mother of all holy vigils» — is the greatest celebration of the whole Catholic liturgical year. It begins outside the church, with the new fire lit and the blessing of the Paschal Candle; one enters with the chant of the Exsultet or Easter Proclamation; there follows the Liturgy of the Word with up to nine readings which traverse the whole history of salvation; the baptismal water is renewed and the catechumens are baptised; the baptismal promises are renewed (cf. Renewal of Baptismal Promises in Sacraments); and the first Eucharist of Easter is celebrated. After forty days of Lent without Alleluia, the whole Church takes up again this Hebrew word — «praise Yah», abbreviation of the divine Tetragrammaton — with solemn joy. The Paschal Time extends for fifty days until Pentecost, and on all those days the Regina Caeli (already in Marian) is sung in place of the Angelus. This prayer accompanies the Easter Vigil and the first days of the Paschal Time.

Christ is risen from the dead! He is truly risen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Lord Jesus Christ, buried on the afternoon of Friday, descended into hell in the silence of Saturday, risen on this holy night by the power of the Father: I adore you as Conqueror of death. What seemed defeat on Friday becomes your definitive victory on this dawn. The sepulchre is empty. The Angels announce: «Why seek you the living among the dead?» (Lk 24:5).

Through this Easter, grant me the paschal joy which the world cannot give — joy which does not depend on circumstances, because it is rooted in the indisputable fact of your historical Resurrection, attested by the women on Sunday morning, by the eleven Apostles in the Cenacle, by the two disciples of Emmaus, by Thomas who placed his hand in your wounds, by the five hundred brothers at the same time (1 Cor 15:6), and by Paul on the road to Damascus.

This your Resurrection guarantees mine: «If Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain», writes the Apostle (1 Cor 15:17). But Christ has truly risen — and therefore I shall also rise.

Renew in me, in these fifty days of the Paschal Time, the grace of Baptism. Sing in me the Alleluia which was silent during Lent. Lead me, with Mary who first saw the risen Son, until the flame of the Cenacle on the day of Pentecost.

Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Amen.