Worship Guide - Great Easter Vigil, Year W

​Rejoice heavenly powers!
—Exsultet
 
For three days Esther fasted and Judith kept vigil, the exiles came home from Jerusalem and the Hebrews marched to the waters of Marah. For three days darkness afflicted the Egyptians, Hezekiah lay mortally ill, Jonah was entombed in the belly of a fish. And Saul who became Paul waited three days in blindness before he saw.
 
On the third day Abraham offered his firstborn son, God came down in fire and wind upon Sinai, the boy Jesus was found “in his Father’s house,” and the man Jesus “performed the first of his signs at Cana of Galilee.” Echoing the words of Hosea, Jesus announced the three-day Passover of his death, rest and resurrection.
 
This year, in Year W, we meet some less familiar exemplars of faith. Hagar and Ishmael, Rahab, Deborah and Judith.
 
Tonight marks the culmination of the Paschal Triduum, or as we know it in English, the “Three Days of Passover.” They are for us too days of death, rest and resurrection. Even if only remotely, we march to the waters of baptism. We keep watch for light and for liberation in our own lives. For three days we climb Mount Moriah, Mount Sinai, Mount Golgotha. Those who were lost are found, and those who were exiled come home.

Readings: Genesis 1:1–2, 26–27; 2:1–4 † Daniel (LXX) 3:52–60 † Genesis 21:2, 8–21 † Psalm 27:5–7, 10–14 † Exodus 14:26–29; 15:20–21  † Exodus 15:1–3, 11, 13, 17–18 † Joshua 2:1–14; 6:15–17, 22–23  † Wisdom 5:1–5; 6:6–7  † Judges 4:1–10, 23  † Judges 5:1, 4–7, 12, 24, 31 † Acts 16:13–15 † Matthew 28:1–10 

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