Saturday, March 31,
2018
Easter Vigil - Year B
08:00 pm Mass in Multilingual
First Reading
GENESIS 1:1--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.
1 Thus heaven and earth
were completed with all their array.
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”
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.
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”
Gospel
Reading
MARK
16:1-8
1
When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and
Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him.
2
And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the
tomb when the sun had risen.
3
They had been saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from
the entrance to the tomb?'
4
But when they looked they saw that the stone -- which was very big -- had
already been rolled back.
5
On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the
right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement.
6
But he said to them, 'There is no need to be so amazed. You are looking for
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here
is the place where they laid him.
7
But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going ahead of
you to Galilee; that is where you will see him, just as he told you." '
8
And the women came out and ran away from the tomb because they were frightened
out of their wits; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
“The
Gospel of the Lord”
