In the wake of the unspeakable act of violence in Boston Monday, our hearts are broken. When we see photos of the carnage, hear the testimony of those who were there, we find it difficult not to be very sad. It is only natural that both children and adults will ask questions.
Catechists and catechetical leaders have a special role to play in helping children and adults understand and deal with this tragedy through the eyes of faith. Because of our Catholic faith, we see the "Problem of Evil" differently.
We should remind them of our beliefs about evil:
Yes, bad things do happen to good people. Look at Jesus and the martyrs. None of them deserved their suffering and deaths. Indeed, their suffering was redemptive. We should unite our sufferings with the suffering of Christ. (A niceexplanation of the Pauline theology of that can be found here.)
God does not cause evil or suffering. Evil occurs because some people do not listen to the voice of God but instead make evil choices. This is because God gave us free will -and because he respects us he permits us to choose. Sometimes, because of sin, we choose evil. Free will is a gift, but it comes with the responsibility to form one's conscience, through reading scripture and study of moral teaching, and to seek to follow not our own will, but the will of God.
Good will overcome evil - but not always right away. For some things we may have to wait until Jesus comes again at the end of time. All we can do for now is pray regularly in the Our Father: "deliver us from evil..." Meanwhile, we are called by our baptism to make the world a better place. We should never give up our fight for justice, to right things that are wrong, or to defend the poor, the helpless and the innocent.
Good can come from evil. The Resurrection of Jesus depended on his suffering and death. Sometimes we have to suffer pain or loss before we can accept the call to something better. As St. Paul wrote "We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. As an Easter people, looking toward resurrection, we should never succumb to despair.
Lastly, we need to pray for those who were killed or injured and their families. We also need to pray for peace and an end to violence and hatred. Even more than that, we are called to pray for whoever did this, since Jesus told us to pray for our enemies - and indeed prayed from the Cross for those who hurt him.
For older students and adults, you might want to call their attention to the Catechism of the Catholic Church309-314, the section on Providence and the Scandal of Evil.
Resources for the Easter Season are now posted and available on The Liturgical Catechist site! Check out the videos and links to liturgical, catechetical, spiritual, musical and family traditions that can be used in faith formation sessions and by families - as well as for individual reflection and renewal.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! For the next 50 days, we are challenged to remain an Easter people - our hearts filled with joy, our gatherings full of celebration.
Catechists might want to make more conscious use of music during faith formation sessions to help set the tone of celebration. Here are a few suggestions from several musical genres that might be somewhat inviting to children and teens:
Holy Saturday. The people will arrive tonight at sundown, experience the lighting of the new fire, the proclamation of the Exsultet, the Vigil readings in the dark, the lighting of the altar and revelation of the beauty of the flower-decked altar and sanctuary... and this morning, small, dedicated groups of art and environment ministers and volunteers will put all those pieces in place so that the great liturgy can happen.
26 years ago, I came into Full Communion with the Catholic Church - and for 25 years, have participated, and even sometimes directed, the preparing of the liturgical space for the Easter Vigil. The tasks are many - ironing and placing a new altar cloth, placing the flowers in the sanctuary, font and vestibule - preparing the congregational taper candles for distribution at the door, preparing and decorating the candlestick for the Easter Candle - and for some, the preparation of the materials for the Easter fire.
This year we have no adult baptisms, for the first time in memory, but normally, preparation of the font, placement of towels and preparing the dressing rooms also is a part of the task list. We will miss having a baptism, but even that cannot dampen my spirits.
Always, on this particular morning, I find myself gripped by a sense of excited anticipation....In a short while I will leave for my parish church to be part of these important preparations. We prepare the space for the people - and for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who will reveal himself in the light of the new fire as the sun sets tonight.
Pope Francis, in his homily for the Chrism Mass, pretty much laid it on the line: he has little patience for empty trappings or for priests who do not preach - or live - in ways that matter and galvanize their people. He called for priests to go out, to act, and to spend themselves in order to find their own fulfillment and blamed a failure to do that as the reason some priests are unhappy and "lose heart." To illustrate his message, he focused on two sacramental symbols of priesthood: oil and vestments, both of which are received at ordination.
Connecting his message to the Chrism oil used in anointing at ordination, he named the role of the priest as one who shares his oil and "anoints his people." Priestly vestments, too, are sacred symbols, he noted, but are not as important as the action and activity of the priest and the effect on his people. In fact, he noted, the people should "feel that their names are written upon our priestly vestments." Speaking to vestments and holy oil:
From the beauty of all these liturgical things, which is not so much about trappings and fine fabrics than about the glory of our God resplendent in his people, alive and strengthened, we turn to a consideration of activity, action. The precious oil which anoints the head of Aaron does more than simply lend fragrance to his person; it overflows down to “the edges”. The Lord will say this clearly: his anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for those who are sorrowing and alone. The ointment is not intended just to make us fragrant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid … and the heart bitter.
A good priest can be recognized by the way his people are anointed. This is a clear test. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with “unction”, they like it when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme darkness, to the “outskirts” where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith.
He notes the importance of the priest "going out" - and of not staying in a "self-help" mode - instead, spending what little they have for others. In that, he said, a priest finds his true satisfaction.
A priest who seldom goes out of himself, who anoints little – I won’t say “not at all” because, thank God, our people take our oil from us anyway – misses out on the best of our people, on what can stir the depths of his priestly heart. Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager, “has already received his reward”, and since he doesn’t put his own skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of thanks. This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied, become sad priests, lose heart and become in some sense collectors of antiques or novelties – instead of being shepherds living with “the smell of the sheep”, shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men...
Clearly, living among the "smell of the sheep: is how he himself has lived his priestly ministry - spending himself tirelessly for his people - and he will continue to do that as Pope.
Our role as the laity? "...be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds according to God’s heart."
I will appoint for you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently. (Jeremiah 3:15)
All of what Pope Francis has named - proclaiming the Good News, going out to those who need to hear, spending one's self for the good of the people - these are all signs of that good shepherd. May our priests continue to be inspired by the Spirit, under the new leadership of our Pope, to become more like Christ, the ultimate Good Shepherd, who emptied and humbled himself even unto death on a cross to do the will of the Father.
At the beginning of the Easter Vigil, after the blessing and lighting of the new Easter Candle, the flame from the candle is used to light the tapers held by members of the assembly. Typically, most people use these as a reading light for the missalette or worship aid. Many people may not see much in the candle besides a useful light in the dark church.
However, there is a deeper symbolism - this is their share of the Light of Christ, shared from the Easter Candle, blessed in the name of Christ. With the spreading of the light to every corner of the room, we enact the very words of the chanted Exsultet hymn: "Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad,knowing an end to gloom and darkness." We are literally "standing in the awesome glory of this holy light." It is "a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light."
The sharing of the light with believers is symbolic of our unity as the Body of Christ. It is the light which we are each asked to carry into the world to make it bright with the Light of Christ. Even though we extinguish these at the end of the Exsultet, we re-light them at the baptismal promises - a symbol that we are called by our baptism to bear that light.
In Matthew, Chapter 5 Jesus says:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
This was echoed for each of us at our baptism when we received (or our godparents received for us) the lighted candle:
Parents and godparents,
this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.
This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ.
He (she) is to walk always as a child of the light.
May he (she) keep the flame of faith alive in his (her) heart.
When the Lord comes, may he (she) go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.
(Rite of Baptism)
Back to the Easter Vigil. Near the end of the Exsultet, we hear these words:
May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who, coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity, and lives and reigns for ever and ever.
The message of the lighted taper to each of us is that we are stewards of the Light, bearers of Christ into the world - and that when he returns, he will want to see that we are still treasuring and sharing that light. When we renew our Baptismal Promises at the Vigil and are sprinkled with water throughout the Easter Season, we are reminded that part of what we promise is to be light-bearers in Christ's name, carrying our baptismal candle flame into the world.
Tonight, I get to rehearse the Exsultet. (Big smile.)
As a cantor for the past 25 years, I have been privileged to take part in the great opening chant of the Saturday night Easter Vigil, the Exsultet, or Easter Proclamation, sometimes as a choir member, sometimes as one of those who chant the verses of whatever arrangement that parish used. In the semi-darkness of a church lit only by the new Easter Candle and the pinpoints of light from the small candles held by each member of the assembly, this has always been my favorite moment of the entire liturgical year.
My first exposure to theExsultet was in the late 80's through the much-beloved Everett Frese arrangement from OCP, now out of print, which began with a pedal point on the organ's lowest pipe that rumbled and shook the dark room as the light of the Easter Candle was shared with the people's candles. It then moved, after the candle was set in its socket, into a glorious and dramatic chant for two cantors punctuated by choir and assembly. The mystery and majesty of the Exsultet in the years I spent in the parish where we used that setting is still something that lives on in my memory. In later years, I encountered the unembellished chant version sung by either cantor or deacon right out of the Sacramentary. Not as dramatic, to be sure, but still wonderful.
During the past few years my current parish has begun using a bilingual version by Pedro Rubalcava, also from OCP, with our pastor chanting the Spanish verses and me taking the English ones. The challenge, of course, when we go back and forth, is that the people 'lose" half of the text on both sides of the language "divide." Ideally, I suppose, we should do the whole thing in both languages, as we do the Easter Gospel, but length pretty much prevents that. Still, this represents an attempt to honor both cultures, and the text can be read in the missalette . It is the proclamation itself that is the point - and the soaring refrain for the people emphasizes the importance of the moment: "This is the night, this is the night, this is the night! Esta es la noche, esta es la noche, esta es la noche!"
As we begin to use the new Roman Missal translation, however, I am conscious that we in the English speaking world had been "robbed" for 40 years of part of the meaning and purpose of the Exsultet. It is not, as it formerly appeared, only a proclamation of the Resurrection, so much as it is a hymn of praise to the Light of Christ and the candle that bears it.
Contrast the old opening to the current section in the new Roman Missal and you see the difference.
Old:
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God’s throne! Jesus Christ, our King is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation! Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King! Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever!
New:
Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
(You can see a side-by-side comparison of the full texts, along with the Latin original here.)
Notice that the opening of the new version does not use the words "Jesus Christ... has risen" specifically, but merely references his "triumph." And throughout, the emphasis is now on the Easter Candle itself, the work of the bees (always present in the Spanish translation). This entire section was left out of the former translation, leaving us with an imperfect understanding of the true purpose of the chant:
Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church.But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human.
Much has been made, among liturgical experts, of the "return of the bees." In this key passage, we see the definition of the Easter Candle (and our divided flames on the assembly's candles) as our earthly offering of praise to God the Father, joined to the glory of the light of Christ. This understanding makes even clearer the opening blessing of the candle, during which grains of incense are embedded along with the description of Christ as Alpha and Omega.
As we begin the procession into the church, the presider says: "May the light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds." Now, with the meaning of the Exsultet restored, that makes more sense. It is the risen light which is emphasized here - and by implication, the person of Christ. The chant that follows is in praise of that light.
So yes, the Exsultet is a great paean to the Risen Christ, but in the form of the return of his light, out of the darkness of the grave - not so much directly to his person. It is our offering of the Easter Candle to the Father, returning the work of the bees to its author and Creator, symbolizing that the Resurrection takes place among us each year at the lighting of the new fire.
Good will overcome evil - but not always right away. For some things we may have to wait until Jesus comes again at the end of time. All we can do for now is pray regularly in the Our Father: "deliver us from evil..." Meanwhile, we are called by our baptism to make the world a better place. We should never give up our fight for justice, to right things that are wrong, or to defend the poor, the helpless and the innocent.
