The Great Vigil of Pentecost
In the business world, we might hear the admonition “if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.” Businesses of a certain complexity often adopt a strategic plan to help them identify and focus on certain priorities over others.
Some of us may be accustomed to calling every Saturday evening Mass a “vigil” of the following Sunday, but this is imprecise. If everything is a vigil, nothing is a vigil. Similarly, not every celebration that serves cake is a birthday. The liturgy we have been given strategically places vigils in the calendar for certain major feasts. Why?
Over the course of the Church’s liturgical year, we gather together for more important celebrations with greater solemnity. Easter and Christmas are so important their celebration lasts for eight days (an “octave”). To help us celebrate these greatest of feasts, entire liturgical seasons are designated to help us prepare: Lent and Advent. The vigil plays much the same role: vigils help us prepare for the following celebration. Historically, vigils were penitential in character, often calling for special prayer and fasting. The fast precedes the feast. The prayers at Mass for these vigils, and usually the readings, are distinct from those given for the following day. One might reasonably approach a more complete liturgical celebration by attending both the vigil and the feast proper the next day. This is all quite different from our recent custom of anticipating the Sunday Mass on Saturday evening!
Our spiritual posture for a vigil can be found in the Old Testament. “This was a night of vigil for the Lord, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; so on this night all Israelites must keep a vigil for the Lord throughout their generations.” (Ex 12:42). Two dictionary definitions seem to apply: “the act of keeping awake at times when sleep is customary”: the Israelites began their Exodus from Egypt instead of sleeping. And then, in keeping the annual memorial of the Passover, we have “an event or a period of time when a person or group stays in a place and quietly waits, prays, etc., especially at night.”
In a similar fashion, we find the disciples keeping vigil in the upper room on two different occasions. On the evening after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to them as a group for the first time (cf. Jn 20:19-23, Lk 24:33-43, Mk 16: 14-20). Then, at His Ascension, He instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-6). They were united in prayer (1:14) until the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost (2:1-4).
Indeed, this clear link of keeping vigil at the celebrations of Easter and Pentecost found expression in the church’s liturgy. As early as the eighth century, there are references to Pentecost and its (then) octave as the “second pasch.” For many centuries, the Easter Vigil added 12 prophetic readings from the Old Testament to the typical celebration of Mass. The Pentecost Vigil had 6 such readings, a subset of those proclaimed at the Easter Vigil. Both celebrations proceeded to the baptismal font with identical rites. In 1955, before the Second Vatican Council, Holy Week was revised. The Easter Vigil’s prophecies were reduced from 12 to 4. It seems an historical accident that the revisions to the Pentecost Vigil made at the same time did not preserve any connection to the Easter Vigil; the prophecies and baptismal liturgy were entirely removed!
Given the many liturgical changes that were to follow these Holy Week changes in 1955, it took the Church some time to restore what had been lost. The Third Edition of the Roman Missal, which we began to use in these United States around 2010, provided for an optional extended Pentecost Vigil that shares some characteristics with the Easter Vigil. The first time I experienced this extended vigil was last year when we did it at St. James. It seemed to be well received, and worth trying again.
In order to help us to prepare for a more proper celebration of the great feast of Pentecost, I will be offering its Vigil Mass at St. Patrick Church in Owego in an extended form the evening of May 27, 2023. Of course, all members of our parishes are welcome to join us as we keep vigil with Apostles and our Lady in the upper room!
What does this mean, practically speaking? This extended vigil will add additional readings, responsorial psalms, and prayers to the typical celebration of a Sunday Mass like the Easter Vigil. Holy Mass will start at the same time (5 pm), but may last approximately 20 minutes longer than usual. Expect certain other liturgical options that are in character with the nature of this celebration, including incense and a chanted Eucharistic Prayer. It would also seem an opportune time to turn again to the liturgical east as we did on Christ the King, to unite our posture to our prayers and pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If any of these features present you with some difficulty, you may wish to explore other options. The Vigil Mass at St. James and all the Pentecost Sunday Masses in our churches will more closely resemble the typical Sunday Mass
Whether or not you keep this vigil with us in person, let us join together in prayer: that the Holy Spirit unite what sin divides, revive our drooping spirits, and pour out Himself across Tioga County and the entire world.
I would greatly appreciate feedback on the spiritual value of this extended celebration from those who are able to attend. I invite you to write care of the parish office.
- Fr. Steve Lewis, Parochial Vicar
