The Vigil

There are so many things I love about the Easter Vigil I don't know where to start. But let me begin by saying it wasn't 7 hrs long. It was about 3 1/2. I, with my short little legs swinging in discomfort, would have gladly stayed for another 3 1/2 hours. Yeah...it was that awesome.

The vigil begins in total darkness with all the priests outside. At Franciscan that's about 30. The celebrant takes the palms from Palm Sunday and burns them in a fire pit and it is with that flame that he lights the Easter Candle.

We had the giggles, I'm not gonna lie. We'd been sitting in the dark for 15 minutes when the vigil cam came on and we could see them all outside. One of our beloved friars almost caught on fire. We laughed that painful suppressed laughter. It hurt.

So the procession enters and we're all holding little taper candles. The Easter candle lights the ones on the aisles and the room fills with candlelight. It is the light of Christ dispelling the darkness. And we stopped giggling.

Then the priest prays a long chanted prayer called the exultet.
My favorite line:

"O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!"

Most Catholic Masses have three readings. The first from the Old Testament the second from the Epistles and the third is from the Gospels. BUT there are 10 readings at the vigil...and they aren't short. It's wonderful though because you get to see all of salvation history starting with the creation story and going through the significant stories that lead to our redemption: Abraham and Isaac; Moses and the Passover; and all those fabulous prophesies of Isaiah, Baruch, and Ezekiel.

The baptisms and confirmations come next. Unlike some non-Catholic denominations the Catholic Church acknowledges all Christian baptisms. So if an adult is being baptized at the vigil then it means they've never been baptized ever. There were three baptisms last night and they got into this kiddie pool of holy water and were dunked three times as the priest said, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

I have never in my life, at any baptism I've attended, witness a reaction like I did last night. After person #1 came up out of the water for the last time, the entire room erupted into thunderous cheers and clapping. Franciscan really knows how to welcome new members the family of God. It was so moving. And I thought the cheers would lessen as the other two came into the Church - but no. We hooted and hollered for 10 minutes straight I think. Truly awesome.

The the rest of the Mass is celebrated and we get to go to the all-night resurrection party. There was live music performed by students...each band would take turns. The first one was awesome and played a little of everything. The next was a girl band that I couldn't hear very well. It was fun till I started to feel old. Then a friend and I went to WallMart at 2am. (there was a party tomorrow/today and we had to get the fixin's we promised to bring) and there was this big black guy wandering around saying Happy Easter to everyone. I thought he might be a homeless guy (although I don't see many of them around here, come to think of it) since he didn't look like he was shopping and stopped to talk to all the stock boys who seemed to know who he was. Then this woman in orange hose and a black and orange dress walked by him with a full cart and said, "let's go." I almost burst out laughing right in front of them. I was slap happy again. When we were done, Jill and I went back to campus to see what the party was doing...it was only 3am and people were clearing out. What part of "ALL-NIGHT" did they not understand?!

Anyway,

All in all, Franciscan University of Steubenville earned every bit of Holy Week hype. That said, I attribute it mostly to my Lent, and to the things that God is doing in my own life. He is healing me...slowly. I have spent these 40 days recognizing my shortcomings and my powerlessness over the circumstances that created them. I am learning patience as well. I would very much like God to snap his fingers and heal me...right now. But what good would that do me? How can I unite myself to Christ's suffering if I'm not willing to feel pain in the refining process? He doesn't always take away the pain ... he just makes it worth it...because after this death...

is resurrection.

Alleluia