Saturday, 26 March 2016

EASTER VIGIL (YEAR C) – MARCH 27, 2016






Saturday, March 26, 2016
Easter Vigil - Year C


08:00 pm  Mass in Multilingual



First Reading
GENESIS 1:1-31, 2:2

1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
2 Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters.
3 God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.
4 God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness.
5 God called light 'day', and darkness he called 'night'. Evening came and morning came: the first day.
6 God said, 'Let there be a vault through the middle of the waters to divide the waters in two.' And so it was.
7 God made the vault, and it divided the waters under the vault from the waters above the vault.
8 God called the vault 'heaven'. Evening came and morning came: the second day.
9 God said, 'Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass, and let dry land appear.' And so it was.
10 God called the dry land 'earth' and the mass of waters 'seas', and God saw that it was good.
11 God said, 'Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees on earth, bearing fruit with their seed inside, each corresponding to its own species.' And so it was.
12 The earth produced vegetation: the various kinds of seed-bearing plants and the fruit trees with seed inside, each corresponding to its own species. God saw that it was good.
13 Evening came and morning came: the third day.
14 God said, 'Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years.
15 Let them be lights in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth.' And so it was.
16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light to govern the night, and the stars.
17 God set them in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night and to divide light from darkness. God saw that it was good.
19 Evening came and morning came: the fourth day.
20 God said, 'Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven.' And so it was.
21 God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in the waters in their own species, and winged birds in their own species. God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply on land.'
23 Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.
24 God said, 'Let the earth produce every kind of living creature in its own species: cattle, creeping things and wild animals of all kinds.' And so it was.
25 God made wild animals in their own species, and cattle in theirs, and every creature that crawls along the earth in its own species. God saw that it was good.
26 God said, 'Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.'
27 God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth.'
29 God also said, 'Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food.
30 And to all the wild animals, all the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that creep along the ground, I give all the foliage of the plants as their food.' And so it was.
31 God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.
2 On the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.

“The Word of the Lord”


Second Reading
GENESIS 22:1-18

1 It happened some time later that God put Abraham to the test. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he called. 'Here I am,' he replied.
2 God said, 'Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall point out to you.'
3 Early next morning Abraham saddled his donkey and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place which God had indicated to him.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 Then Abraham said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there; we shall worship and then come back to you.'
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together.
7 Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. 'Father?' he said. 'Yes, my son,' he replied. 'Look,' he said, 'here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?'
8 Abraham replied, 'My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.' And the two of them went on together.
9 When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he said. 'Here I am,' he replied.
12 'Do not raise your hand against the boy,' the angel said. 'Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your own beloved son.'
13 Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14 Abraham called this place 'Yahweh provides', and hence the saying today: 'On the mountain Yahweh provides.'
15 The angel of Yahweh called Abraham a second time from heaven.
16 'I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son,
17 I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies.
18 All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.'

“The Word of the Lord”


Third Reading
EXODUS 14:15, 15:1

15 Yahweh then said to Moses, 'Why cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to march on.
1 It was then that Moses and the Israelites sang this song in Yahweh's honour: I shall sing to Yahweh, for he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

“The Word of the Lord”


Fourth Reading
ISAIAH 54:5-14

5 For your Creator is your husband, Yahweh Sabaoth is his name, the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer, he is called God of the whole world.
6 Yes, Yahweh has called you back like a forsaken, grief-stricken wife, like the repudiated wife of his youth, says your God.
7 I did forsake you for a brief moment, but in great compassion I shall take you back.
8 In a flood of anger, for a moment I hid my face from you. But in everlasting love I have taken pity on you, says Yahweh, your redeemer.
9 For me it will be as in the days of Noah when I swore that Noah's waters should never flood the world again. So now I swear never to be angry with you and never to rebuke you again.
10 For the mountains may go away and the hills may totter, but my faithful love will never leave you, my covenant of peace will never totter, says Yahweh who takes pity on you.
11 Unhappy creature, storm-tossed, unpitied, look, I shall lay your stones on agates and your foundations on sapphires.
12 I shall make your battlements rubies, your gateways firestone and your entire wall precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by Yahweh and great will be your children's prosperity.
14 In saving justice you will be made firm, free from oppression: you will have nothing to fear; free from terror: it will not approach you.

“The Word of the Lord”


Fifth Reading
ISAIAH 55:1-11

1 Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money, free!
2 Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
3 Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live. I shall make an everlasting covenant with you in fulfilment of the favours promised to David.
4 Look, I have made him a witness to peoples, a leader and lawgiver to peoples.
5 Look, you will summon a nation unknown to you, a nation unknown to you will hurry to you for the sake of Yahweh your God, because the Holy One of Israel has glorified you.
6 Seek out Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near.
7 Let the wicked abandon his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness;
8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh.
9 For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 For, as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth, fertilising it and making it germinate to provide seed for the sower and food to eat,
11 so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do.

“The Word of the Lord”


Sixth Reading
BARUCH 3:9-15, 32, 4:4

9 Listen, Israel, to commands that bring life; hear, and learn what knowledge means.
10 Why, Israel, why are you in the country of your enemies, growing older and older in an alien land,
11 defiling yourselves with the dead, reckoned with those who go to Sheol?
12 It is because you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
13 Had you walked in the way of God, you would be living in peace for ever.
14 Learn where knowledge is, where strength, where understanding, and so learn where length of days is, where life, where the light of the eyes and where peace.
15 But who has found out where she lives, who has entered her treasure house?
32 But the One who knows all discovers her, he has grasped her with his own intellect, he has set the earth firm for evermore and filled it with four-footed beasts,
4 Israel, blessed are we: what pleases God has been revealed to us!

“The Word of the Lord”


Seventh Reading
EZEKIEL 36:16-28

16 The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,
17 'Son of man, the members of the House of Israel used to live in their own territory, but they defiled it by their conduct and actions; to me their conduct was as unclean as a woman's menstruation.
18 I then vented my fury on them because of the blood they shed in the country and the foul idols with which they defiled it.
19 I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the countries. I sentenced them as their conduct and actions deserved.
20 They have profaned my holy name among the nations where they have gone, so that people say of them, "These are the people of Yahweh; they have been exiled from his land."
21 But I have been concerned about my holy name, which the House of Israel has profaned among the nations where they have gone.
22 And so, say to the House of Israel, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I am acting not for your sake, House of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.
23 I am going to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am Yahweh -- declares the Lord Yahweh -- when in you I display my holiness before their eyes.
24 For I shall take you from among the nations and gather you back from all the countries, and bring you home to your own country.
25 I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols.
26 I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead.
27 I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws, and respect and practice my judgments.
28 You will live in the country which I gave your ancestors. You will be my people and I shall be your God.

“The Word of the Lord”


Eight Reading
ROMANS 6:3-11

3 You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death.
4 So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, we too should begin living a new life.
5 If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his;
6 realising that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin.
7 Someone who has died, of course, no longer has to answer for sin.
8 But we believe that, if we died with Christ, then we shall live with him too.
9 We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more.
10 For by dying, he is dead to sin once and for all, and now the life that he lives is life with God.
11 In the same way, you must see yourselves as being dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.

“The Word of the Lord”



PSALMS 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35

1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, Yahweh, my God, how great you are! Clothed in majesty and splendour,
2 wearing the light as a robe! You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
5 You fixed the earth on its foundations, for ever and ever it shall not be shaken;
6 you covered it with the deep like a garment, the waters overtopping the mountains.
10 In the ravines you opened up springs, running down between the mountains,
12 on their banks the birds of the air make their nests, they sing among the leaves.
13 From your high halls you water the mountains, satisfying the earth with the fruit of your works:
14 for cattle you make the grass grow, and for people the plants they need, to bring forth food from the earth,
24 How countless are your works, Yahweh, all of them made so wisely! The earth is full of your creatures.
35 May sinners vanish from the earth, and the wicked exist no more! Bless Yahweh, my soul.



Gospel Reading
LUKE 24:1-12

1 On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, they went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared.
2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb,
3 but on entering they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 As they stood there puzzled about this, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side.
5 Terrified, the women bowed their heads to the ground. But the two said to them, 'Why look among the dead for someone who is alive?
6 He is not here; he has risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee:
7 that the Son of man was destined to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.'
8 And they remembered his words.
9 And they returned from the tomb and told all this to the Eleven and to all the others.
10 The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. And the other women with them also told the apostles,
11 but this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.
12 Peter, however, went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.


“The Gospel of the Lord”

No comments:

Post a Comment