The Easter Vigil

For some of you reading this reflection, especially if you live in and around the tropics, a little context may be needed.  Our parish is in the north of England.  In winters we have very short daylight hours – sunrise ~8:20am and sunset around 3:50pm.  Conversely, our summer daylight ours are long – sunrise ~4:38am and sunset ~9:40pm.  So the start of our Easter Vigil can vary greatly depending on how late or early Easter falls.

 

Some of you will have noticed that the Easter Vigil this year starts a little later.  Why is this?

Easter is a moveable feast.  If you want the technical bit, it occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

Yes, I also had to read that twice!!

That by itself, however, does not tell us why our Easter Vigil starts a little later.

The Church teaches very strongly that it should be held ONLY during the hours of darkness:

“The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes place at night.  It should not begin before nightfall; it should end before daybreak on Sunday’.  This rule is to be taken according to its strictest sense.  Reprehensible are those abuses and practices that have crept into many places in violation of this ruling….”  (Paschale Solemnitatis 78)

So, since nightfall is later in the day when Easter falls later in the year, so must our celebration start a little later.

As a measure of how dark it needs to be, we are told that the flames the of Easter fire “should be such that they genuinely dispel the darkness and light up the night.” (ibid 82)

I have a good friend in Germany, and in his parish they do it the other way round – they start their Easter Vigil at about 4am Sunday morning – again, depending on the time of year – aiming to finish before the sun starts to brighten the sky.  They then all gather for a shared breakfast.

I prefer our way!!

The Easter Eucharist is the most ancient of the Church’s liturgies, most likely having started in the 2nd Century.  And it is the greatest and most noble of all our solemnities.  Quite simply, if there were no Easter, there would be no Church.

So, regardless of the later start, let us turn up in great numbers – as countless numbers before us have done – for this truly wondrous night.  Let our own “holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.” (Exsultet)