Well, our Easter Vigil ran a rather sprightly 2.5 hours last Saturday night, which was bearable (and may have been abetted by the deacon's homily, which clocked in at about six minutes).For me and for most Catholics, the Easter Vigil is the absolute summit of the liturgical year: not simply the celebration of Easter per se, that is, the celebration of the Risen Christ; but the liturgy itself, which includes the lighting of the Paschal candle, the singing of the ancient hymm called the Exsultet, the multiple readings that trace salvation history from the Old Testament to the New, the welcoming of the newly baptized, and so on. Pastors, pastoral teams, music ministers, RCIA staff, ministers of hospitality, eucharistic ministers, and even florists usually spend weeks planning for the big day.
But lately I've been wondering if the sometimes extreme length of some of these liturgies might actually be keeping Catholics away.
Typically, most Vigils that I've attended (or concelebrated) have run around three hours. But the Easter Vigil can easily be, and frequently is, made even longer with choirs that sing every single verse in the responsorial psalm, for example, as well as preachers who decide that this is in fact the time for a homily that is not abbreviated but longer than usual. Another friend told me that in his church, after the baptismal promises were pronounced, the choir asked the congregation to repeat a verse of song (after each promise), lengthening that relatively concise part of the Mass. Purely on a physical level, many people--young and old--find sitting on a hard pew for almost four hours a mortification.
Sure, you could argue that part of being Christian is suffering, but is the Easter Vigil the time to ask for physical penance? After all, it's the end of Lent, not the beginning.
Does singing "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" in the midst of physical discomfort add to, or detract from, a sense of Easter joy? Does a Mass that can turn into an endurance test make us joyful or just grateful when it's finally over? Or is the extravagant length of the Vigil a perfect reflection of the extravagant joy of Easter?
But as I mentioned in that homily: this is an event that demands time and attention. It is epic.
Of course, if it were a close-to-four-hour marathon, I might feel differently. But anything less than 3 hours isn't that bad. Is it?
Posts
25 comments:
Too long? Hmmm... Kids can sit in front of a video game for more than three hours, and most adults don't have any problem with three hours in front of the boob tube.
Of course, some liturgists make parts (or sometimes all) of liturgy of this holiest os holy night even less aesthetically pleasing than reality TV, but that's a whole different can of worms.
"But lately I've been wondering if the sometimes extreme length of some of these liturgies might actually be keeping Catholics away."
I don't think you need to wonder--that's a definite. I concelebrated a vigil at which I had the privilege of baptizing a relative. At least a couple of other relatives didn't go to the vigil because of its length!
It was unnecessarily long, mostly because of the choir. Each hymn, mass part, and psalm was like a "number" in a show--done up to the max. One of the responsorial psalms was fully ten minutes long. The priests, meanwhile, were urged by the coordinating deacon to use Eucharistic Prayer II, the short one used at daily Mass, even though prayer I has special inserts for the Vigil.
A half hour could easily have been chopped off and probably an hour without losing appropriate solemnity. A relative who did go remarked with disgust, "That's a parish not run by the pastor but by the choir."
Is it too long? It depends.
This year I the Easter Vigil I attended lasted just over two hours. Last year the Vigil I attended lasted well over 3 hours (about 40 minutes longer than what the priest expected).
Guess which year I was fixing to get out of there.
I think when the liturgy is done according to the book--it is a beautiful liturgy that is worth the extra time. Some of these modifications you mention (a song between each renewed promise?) are additions upon an additional part of this liturgy and really shouldn't in there.
The Vigil, if done as the Church asks, is beautiful in its own right. There isn't a need to extend it to the maximum length possible. We did all of the readings, baptized 10, received a number into full communion and made it out under 3 hours.
So, no, we shouldn't shorten the Vigil, but we shouldn't try to add fluff to it either.
Another issue is people dismissing something on the basis of time alone. How many people sat through the Lord of the Rings movies in theaters? How many people watch hours of pre-game followed by a day's worth of football? The time is worth it, but we should find a way to help people realize that their watches isn't the focal point of life, much less the Easter Vigil.
Correction - The time of the Easter Vigil is worth it. The debate is open whether hours of Lord of the Rings or days worth of football watching is worth it. :-) I'm a fan of both football and Lord of the Rings, so no judgment from me, unless you think a "pure" Vigil is too long!
i was confirmed last saturday, and for me it was absolutely not too long and that was with a 2 yr old sitting in my lap waaaaay after his bedtime. i will go every year and i can only hope that it will not be cut down in any way.
peace
If the Easter Vigil liturgy is done properly and according to the rubrics, is not too long. We still have to "sell it" to catholics. The majority of them don't know the richness of the Easter Vigil Liturgy until they participate in it. I heard comments like these, "marvelous", magnificent", "beautiful", "moving", "it meant so much to me", "I never thought it could be this way"; and all these in a ordinary parish in the Bronx.
Let us -- all who are in charge of liturgies and catechesis, let the people know how beautiful it is; let us invite people to come in, and people won't mind the time. They will love it.
Ours was 2 1/2 hrs and I felt it went too fast. The words are so rich and beautiful I want to sit and meditate on each phrase a while. So for cripes sake, don't chop it down. You want a shorter Mass? That's what Easter Sunday is for.
What a joke! How complacent and lazy have we Americans become?
I have attended a few Vigils in developing countries: they strated around Midnight and ended close to 4 a.m., and then a social! Everyone clearly wanted to be there: man woamn and child.
The Jesuit James Martin would be the last person to go to about anyting Catholic!
This is utterly farcical. Considering in the early Church the vigil of Easter lasted from early evening until the following morning, I believe we can probably tolerate a couple of hours. This summit of the catechumenal period also included a sermon following each lesson.
I would invite anyone who wishes to carp about the paltry length of our vigil to visit on of our Orthodox brethren at their vigil. One does not have the comfort of sitting for the hours of the vigil.
In short: Give me a break. Our Lord endured the pains of the Cross and Passion to make it to Easter morning; I think you can bear a few edifying lessons on a pew.
The Jesuit James Martin would be the last person to go to about anyting Catholic!
What a breathtakingly uncharitable thing to say! As though the writer would know what is in "the Jesuit James Martin"'s heart and mind.
The Pharisee stood at the altar and thought he was a lot better than the tax-collector, remember? "I do everything just right...don't you just LOVE me, God? I'm sure not like that Jesuit, James Martin!"
Nothing like looking down on a fellow Christian during Easter Week.
adeodato...
I tend to side with patm on this...Martin was raising a valid question. I know a lot of people who stay away from the Vigil because it's so time-consuming.
I tried to coax my father-in-law to come up to New York for my first Vigil as deacon, and he thought long and hard about it, but the idea of sitting through a long liturgy like that was just too much, and he begged off. If you've sat through this once or twice when it's been done poorly, or sloppily, it's easy to swear off doing it again.
At my parish, we have hours of rehearsal leading up to the Vigil, and the choir practices for weeks. Not every parish is so conscientious.
Blessings,
Dcn. G.
At our parish the Easter Vigil mass was truncated - several of the readings were skipped entirely.
Was it a valid celebration of the mass?
Rouxfus:
Yes, you have the option of only doing four readings and the gospel. Most places do that.
Blessings,
Dcn. G.
I stay away from our Easter Vigil service not necessarily because it is too long (now that I have reflected upon this question more) but because it is so very crowded and gets done so late at night.
it is not, as one commenter at my blog suggested, because my parish does not do the Easter Vigil properly or beautifully. Quite the opposite. I realize this is a fault in myself. However, our parish regularly has between 60-80 catechumens coming in, which means their families are also there, etc. It is literally a "crush" of people. Add that to the fact that it began quite properly also at 9:15 to be sure of starting after twilight and you have several daunting factors to consider when facing this mass.
As I said, none of this is the fault (so to speak) of our parish and I glory in the new members, etc. It is in me and for the same reason that I don't attend the Midnight Mass at Christmas, I give this one a miss.
Unless I am mistaken this mass is not a requirement so I fail to understand the fuss. I simply prefer to go to in the morning to the tomb with the women.
I have been RCIA coordinator at my parish for close to nine years. Between that, and my years as an altar server and sacristan, I have probably been involved in over twenty Easter Vigils in three different parishes.
At my present parish, the service begins at 8:00 pm. I ask the catechumens and candidates to arrive at 6:30 pm for a period of prayer and preparation in the Chapel. When I explain the length of the service, I usually have to deal with a fair amount of griping. Asking folks to be at church for over 4 hours - plus a reception, they argue, seems like a bit much.
I assure them that it will not seem that long. "Before you know it we will be singing 'Jesus Christ is Risen Today!' You will look at your watch and say, where did the time go???
Year after year, the newly initiated come up to me at the reception, still glowing in the Spirit and oozing with Chrism and say, "You were right! The time flew by."
From a personal perspective, the time always flies for me. But that is because I am participating in the liturgy. Fully and actively. If one comes to the Easter Vigil to be a spectator, I can see how it could be long and boring. However, none of us are supposed to be simple spectators. Attendance at a liturgy requires active participation. Singing the hymns, actively listening to the readings with an attentive ear, meditating upon the prayers, and contemplating the wonder of God during the Sacraments of Initiation.
It is really no different than what is expected of us any other Sunday. Perhaps some catechesis during the rest of the year would be helpful. Every Sunday we should be excercising our liturgical muscles so that we can run a marathon on the evening of Holy Saturday!
I love the Easter Vigil, whether I am in the choir or "in the pews." We have brought our children, even when we had a 3-year-old, and they survived.
What burns me is when people who MAKE THE TIME TO ATTEND DAILY MASS complain that a regular Sunday Mass is too long!
Choirs do need to take care that they are there to lead the congregation in sung prayer, NOT to give a concert. If they want to do all those special pieces, set a date for a choir concert.
Easter Vigil is my favorite mass of the year, bar none. Noone leaves the church because of Easter Vigil, many leave because of the banal approach to mass at many parishes 364 other days a year.
This was an interesting post, especially because it was a big discussion at our Easter dinner table.
I was actually confirmed at my church's Easter vigil which to much of our surprise was only 1 hour and 30 minutes...
Our Easter Vigil this year was 2 hours and 40 minutes - and we had no sacraments of initition. We used the whole complement of readings. I've been presiding at the Vigil for 34 years and it was only about 10 years ago that I finally found myself comfortable enough to find myself praying as well as presiding/coordinating. It takes time to get there - and it takes a parish time to get there, too.
One key element is understanding the ebb and flow, the dynamics of the Vigil liturgy lest every element come off at the same pace with the same emphasis.
We still have many people in our parish who stay away because of the Vigil's length but I wouldn't shorten it by one intercession on that account.
As I tell the people every year: the Triduum includes the three greatest, most beautiful and important liturgies of the year and it's a shame that many Catholics go their graves never having celebrated these three days.
Any ritual/Prayer in the Catholic church is too long for someone whos heart and mind is not on it. But if you're focused and you're feeling the presence of the risen Lord (Jesus)and you're feeling every action of the Priest, every word of God being said by the readers. Then, Easter Vigil is not long actually.
March 27, 2008 7:46 PM
As long as I have an ADHD child who needs to keep moving, and whose tv watching includes running laps and jumping in place, I'll stay away. That says nothing about it being too long, which it isn't.
OTOH, stop with the comparisons to a football game or a movie. You can take bathroom breaks during those, and the last time I checked, eating potato chips and drinking beer during Easter Vigil was frowned upon.
Michael,
This brings up a good point. Most of our parishes have woefully inadequate, usually nonexistent facilities for parishioners. Esp. with so many families with children and seniors, why should we make it even harder for them to attend mass. I wonder if our pastors and parish staff, who usually have a private facility, realize what their parishioners are going through?
Regards facilities: when we do have baptisms, we announce a break when the newly baptized have left to dry off and dress. During the break, folks can stretch and visit the rest rooms. Do we lose some folks at the break? Yes. But I suspect the break simply gives them a discreet exit rather than a less gracioius one which they might have made without it.
Post a Comment