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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

All Nine Readings

Fr. David Friel · April 5, 2015

AST NIGHT, I had a wonderful opportunity. For the very first time, I was fortunate to participate in the Easter Vigil during which all of the readings were proclaimed. I have attended many an Easter Vigil, and even been the celebrant once before, but never had I experienced the Word proclaimed during the Vigil in all its fullness & splendor.

The Easter Vigil bears a magnificent design, rightly called the “mother of all vigils.” In the Vigil’s Liturgy of the Word, according to the Holy Week Circular Letter, the Church invites us to meditate on the wonderful works that the Lord God has wrought for His people from antiquity. Beginning with the exquisite poetry of the Exsultet, we are called to see how God has brought light to the darkness in every age and in every human life. These truths were so evident as I heard the readings last night, each in its proper succession.

I—Genesis 1:1—2:2
From the very first words of Sacred Scripture, in Genesis, God’s care for His creation and His love for humanity are paramount.

II—Genesis 22:1-18
From the story of Abraham & Isaac, we learn the lesson that God always provides and that His deepest desire is to see human life flourish.

III—Exodus 14:15—15:1
In the terrific story of the Exodus, God leads His people from slavery to freedom through the waters of the Red Sea. He accomplishes the same for us, in our day, through holy Baptism and through His sanctifying grace.

IV—Isaiah 54:5-14
In the first of the two readings from Isaiah, the Lord speaks to us about His “enduring love” and His “great tenderness.”

V—Isaiah 55:1-11
In the other reading from Isaiah, the Lord invites all people, no matter their background: “Come to Me . . . that you may have life.” He goes on to assure us that He will renew His everlasting covenant down through the generations.

VI—Baruch 3:9-15, 32—4:4
The Prophet Baruch teaches us that God is the fountain of wisdom, to Whom we must return again & again in order to experience true life & light.

VII—Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28
Through the words of the Prophet Ezekiel, God promises to give each of us new life, “a new heart,” and “a new spirit.”

Epistle—Romans 6:3-11
How is all of this possible? How could God possibly make good on all these promises? As St. Paul explains to us in his magnificent Letter to the Romans: “Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over Him.” Christ, rather, has power over all things.

Gospel—Mark 16:1-7
Could there be any fuller proof of this truth than this passage from St. Mark? The women go to the tomb, expecting to mourn and anoint the Body. Instead, they find the stone rolled back, and a young man (presumably an angel) tells them that Jesus is “not here,” for “He has been raised!” Jesus is triumphant, and His triumph extends to each of us.

Hearing each of these readings proclaimed during the Easter Vigil provides the necessary context to celebrate the unparalleled joy of the Easter feast. If you are a priest who has never experienced the Vigil in its fullness, I encourage you to consider trying it next year. Unsurprisingly, I found the liturgy as it is intended to be most rewarding.

Hearing all these readings together, the collective message I took away from the Liturgy of the Word was this: the Lord will provide. This is explicitly stated in the story of the testing of Abraham (Reading II), but it was a message I heard underlying each of the other stories.

The rubrics of the Missal should be taken seriously:

In this Vigil, the mother of all Vigils, nine readings are provided, namely seven from the Old Testament and two from the New (the Epistle and Gospel), all of which should be read whenever this can be done, so that the character of the Vigil, which demands an extended period of time, may be preserved. (#20)

The most common reason for reading fewer than the full nine readings is the desire to keep the Vigil from becoming excessively long. Notably, this rubric suggests that all the readings should be read precisely so that the Vigil will be long enough. This is a perspective worth considering. Even reading all the readings, the Vigil I experienced last night did not come close to stretching until dawn, which the Missal envisions as a real possibility. The whole duration of the Vigil, in fact, was only two hours and fifteen minutes.

I even found the micro-structure of the readings helpful: reading-Psalm-collect, reading-Psalm-collect, etc. This rhythm bears a close resemblance to the Church’s ancient method of praying with the Scriptures, Lectio Divina, the steps of which include Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio. After just a handful of readings, the effect would not have been so effective.

The promises of old are just as pertinent today as they were centuries ago. The promises of the Lord are still fresh, and they are renewed each morning, so great is His faithfulness. The Lord has done marvelous things for our ancestors. It is no different in our own day. God has not only the power to do great things for us, but also the desire.

So let’s entrust ourselves to the Lord, confident that He will do what He has promised. The Lord has done & will continue to do great things for us; we are glad, indeed!

“ When I found Your words, O LORD, I devoured them. They became my joy and the happiness of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Easter Proclamation Holy Saturday, Exsultet, Novus Ordo Lectionary Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR shamefully granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Holy Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand while it’s sung … even though everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia. Furthermore, imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 5 October 2025, which is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the spectacular feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin. Readers will want to check out the ENTRANCE CHANT posted there, which has a haunting melody (in the DEUTERUS MODE) and extremely powerful text.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Although the New Testament is now so much more important to us than the Old, we must remember that the archetype of the Canon of Scripture is the Old Testament. At first that was the whole Bible, to Christians as to Jews. When the apostles speak of “Scripture” they mean the Old Testament only. Indeed, the way in which the books of the New Testament came to be considered canonical was by making them equal to those of the Old.

— Rev’d Doctor Adrian Fortescue

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