CHRIST IS RISEN ! Commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Join Bishop Peter Jugis this Holy Week and Easter for liturgies streamed online live from the Cathedral of St. Patrick: • Palm Sunday: 11 a.m. Sunday, April 5 • Chrism Mass: 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 7 • Mass of the Lord’s Supper: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 9 Followed by Eucharistic Adoration online until midnight • Good Friday: 3 p.m. Friday, April 10 • Easter Vigil: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11 • Easter Sunday: 10 a.m. Sunday, April 12 Tune in live or watch on demand!
Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/DioceseOfCharlotte
A special publication of the This guide is also made possible in part through the efforts and contributions of the J.S. Paluch Company.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This Lent has been an unusually difficult one for so many people here at home and around the world, with the coronavirus outbreak impacting all of us to varying degrees. For everyone, our normal routines have been disrupted and we have been concerned for our own well-being and for the well-being of others. Thousands of people in North Carolina have become ill from the new virus, and sadly some have died. In His love for us, Our Lord offers us profound lessons in faith, continually calling us to holiness. This Lent has been one of slowing down to draw closer to the Lord, practicing the virtues of kindness and patience, and focusing us on the loving care of family and friends. Our inability to come together personally for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has given us a unique opportunity to renew in our hearts a devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Having lived the spiritual discipline of this Lent, we now come to anticipate the light of the Resurrection. With Palm Sunday we enter into the beginning of the celebration of Our Lord’s Paschal Mystery. At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the holy priesthood. On Good Friday, we commemorate the Passion and death of Our Lord. Since we cannot celebrate these beautiful liturgies of Holy Week as usual in our churches this year, this guide is offered in order to help you meditate on the readings and prayers throughout Holy Week, thus uniting us in prayer and making us truly “one body, one spirit in Christ.” As we look forward to Easter let us rejoice and be comforted by the joy that comes from the Risen Christ. May He who conquered death renew in us a steadfast spirit and hope, and bring us His healing and peace. Since this is the Year of Saint Joseph, let us also ask Blessed Joseph and his spouse, Mary Most Holy, to pray for us. “Be strong and take heart, all who hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:25) Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus,
Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, J.C.D. Bishop of Charlotte
Excerpts from the English translation of Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation, (ICEL); and excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved.
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord Entrance Antiphon
At the Mass during the Day
Cf. Psalm 139 (138):18, 5–6
Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia: posuisti super me manum tuam, alleluia: mirabilis facta est scientia tua, alleluia, alleluia. – or –
Lk 24:34 cf. Rev 1:6
I have risen, and I am with you still, alleluia. You have laid your hand upon me, alleluia. Too wonderful for me, this knowledge, alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is truly risen, alleluia. To him be glory and power for all the ages of eternity, alleluia, alleluia.
The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) is said. First Reading Acts 10:34a, 37–43
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter proceeded to speak and said: “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 118:1–2, 16–17, 22–23 (R/. 24)
R/. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. Alternative psalm response: Alleluia.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, / for his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Israel say, / “His mercy endures forever.” R/. “The right hand of the Lord has struck with power; / the right hand of the Lord is exalted.”I shall not die, but live, / and declare the works of the Lord. R/. The stone which the builders rejected / has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done; / it is wonderful in our eyes. R/.
Second Reading
Colossians 3:1–4
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. – or – 1 Corinthians 5:6b–8
A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Sequence: Victimae paschali laudes
The text which follows from the Lectionary for Mass may be used, or a metrical paraphrase may be sung. Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal. Speak, Mary, declaring What you saw, wayfaring. “The tomb of Christ, who is living, The glory of Jesus’ resurrection; Bright angels attesting, The shroud and napkin resting. Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; To Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia. Victimae Paschali laudes immolent Christiani Agnus redemit oves; Christus innocens Patri reconciliavit peccatores. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando; dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus. Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via? Sepulchrum Christi viventis et gloriam vidi resurgentis. Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes. Surrexit Christus spes mea: praecedet vos in Galilaeam. Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere; tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere. Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel Acclamation
Cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7b–8a
R./ Alleluia Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; / let us then feast with joy in the Lord. R/. Gospel
John 20:1–9
The Gospel from the Easter Vigil may be read in place of the following Gospel at any time of the day. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the holy Gospel according to John Glory to you, O Lord. On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Homily
Renewal of Baptismal Promises The Renewal of Baptismal Promises takes place at all Masses today. The Creed is omitted. Dear brethren [ brothers and sisters ], through the Paschal Mystery we have been buried with Christ in Baptism, so that we may walk with him in newness of life. And so, now that our Lenten observance is concluded, let us renew the promises of Holy Baptism, by which we once renounced Satan and his works and promised to serve God in the holy Catholic Church. And so I ask you:
Priest: Do you renounce Satan? All: I do. All: I do. Priest: And all his empty show? Priest: And all his works? All: I do. – or –
Priest: All: Priest: All: Priest: All:
Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God? I do. Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you? I do. Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin? I do.
Priest: Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth? All: I do. Priest: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father? All: I do.
Priest: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? All: I do.
And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins, keep us by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord, for eternal life. Amen.
The Priest sprinkles the people with the blessed water, while all sing: I saw water flowing from the Temple, from its right-hand side, alleluia; and all to whom this water came were saved and shall say: Alleluia, alleluia.
Another chant that is baptismal in character may also be sung. Prayer over the Offerings Exultant with paschal gladness, O Lord, we offer the sacrifice by which your Church is wondrously reborn and nourished. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Preface
It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, at all times to acclaim you, O Lord, but on this day above all to laud you yet more gloriously, when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. For he is the true Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world; by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising, restored our life. Therefore, overcome with paschal joy, every land, every people exults in your praise and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts, sing together the unending hymn of your glory, as they acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts ...
Communion Antiphon 1 Corinthians 5:7–8 Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus, alleluia: itaque epulemur in azymis sinceritatis, et veritatis, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Prayer after Communion
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, alleluia; therefore let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of purity and truth, alleluia, alleluia.
Look upon your Church, O God, with unfailing love and favor, so that, renewed by the paschal mysteries, she may come to the glory of the resurrection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.