The celebration of Easter
takes place over the next seven weeks,
and will be crowned by Pentecost.
Until the end of social distancing, Aleteia will offer you
a daily celebration of the Word of God at home
to sanctify every day of the Easter season.
In collaboration with Magnificat magazine
Read more:
Mass on TV, or a celebration at home?
Instructions:
- This celebration requires the presence of at least two people.
- If you are alone, it is preferable to simply read the readings and prayers found in the proposed celebration.
- This celebration is particularly suitable for use with family. In order to respect quarantine measures, you should refrain from inviting others from outside your household. If anyone in your house is ill, make sure they remain in isolation to ensure that all safety guidelines are strictly followed.
- Set up the needed number of chairs in front of a prayer corner, respecting distance between them.
- Light one or more candles, placing them on non-flammable stands (such as candlesticks or small porcelain plates). Don’t forget to blow them out at the end of the celebration. Place some flowers and decorations as a sign of joy. A simple cross or crucifix should always be visible in the background.
- Designate a person to lead the prayer. He or she will also determine the length of the periods of silence. Designate a reader.
TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
Celebration of the Word
The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that
everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
All are seated.
The leader of the celebration reads:
Yes, brothers and sisters,
let us rejoice, let us exult, and let us give thanks:
the Son of Man has been lifted up,
and in him we are promised eternal happiness.
Indeed, the triumph of Christ
is the triumph of all mankind,
as well as the triumph of each one of us:
it is the crowning achievement of Salvation History.
Brothers and sisters, understand this well:
if the only goal of Salvation History had been
to save mankind from the clutches of evil and death,
it wouldn’t have required God’s death.
But the crowning achievement of Salvation History,
as the Father intended it to be in His benevolent design,
demanded that God give his life as a proof of infinite love.
For the final crowning achievement of salvation history
is that mankind should be adopted
into the very heart of the divinity:
God became a dead man,
so that men and women resurrected in him may become God.
This is why the resurrection of Christ
and his exaltation are intimately connected:
Jesus of Nazareth, our brother in humanity,
and God, the Lord of Life, are one.
Thus the plan of God’s love
is revealed in its inaccessible depth:
if the Son of God has died and risen again,
it is so that all may have eternal life,
and not just any eternal life,
but a truly divine eternal life.
Pause
O Jesus, we are prevented from
perpetuating the offering of your life
by the celebration of the Eucharist:
more than ever, we ask you to make it present
in the way we love each other
as you loved us.
After three minutes of silence, all rise and make the Sign of the Cross, saying:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The leader continues:
To prepare ourselves to receive God’s Word
and in order for it to heal us,
we recognize ourselves as sinners.
The penitential rite follows. For example:
Have mercy on us, O Lord.
For we have sinned against you.
Show us, O Lord, your mercy.
And grant us your salvation.
May Almighty God have mercy on us;
forgive us our sins,
And bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
The following is said or sung:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
PRAYER
The leader says the opening prayer:
Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to God,
for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns, alleluia.
FIRST READING (Acts 4:32-37)
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the Apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
Thus Joseph, also named by the Apostles Barnabas
(which is translated Ason of encouragement”),
a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
sold a piece of property that he owned,
then brought the money and put it at the feet of the Apostles.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
PSALM(93:1AB, 1CD-2, 5)
R/Alleluia!
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.R/
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.R/
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.R/
GOSPEL(John 3:7B-15)
Alleluia. Alleluia.
The Son of Man must be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him
may have eternal life.
Alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
‘How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
No acclamation concludes the reading of the Gospel.
All are seated, and the leader repeats slowly,
as if it were a far-off echo:
In the deepest depth of our hearts,
let us listen to the echo of the words of Jesus
that the Church offers us today:
The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that
everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
All observe five minutes of silence for silent personal meditation.
The leader indicates the end of the period of silence, and invites all to rise.
The leader introduces the Lord’s Prayer:
United in the Spirit and in the communion of the Church,
we dare to pray as the Lord Jesus himself
taught us:
All say or sing the Our Father:
Our Father…
Continuing immediately with:
For the kingdom…
Then the leader invites those present to share a sign of peace:
We have just joined our voices
with that of the Lord Jesus to pray to the Father.
We are sons and daughters in the Son.
In the love that unites us with one another,
renewed by the word of God,
we can exchange a gesture of peace,
a sign of the communion
we receive from the Lord.
All then exchange a greeting of peace from a distance: for example, by bowing deeply towards each other in turn; or, as a family, by blowing each other a kiss. Then all sit down.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
The leader says:
When we cannot receive sacramental communion for lack of a Mass, Pope Francis urges us to practice spiritual communion, also called “communion of desire.”
The Council of Trent reminds us that this “consists in an ardent desire to feed on the Heavenly Bread, with a living faith that acts through charity and that makes us participants in the fruits and graces of the Sacrament.” The value of our spiritual communion depends therefore on our faith in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as a source of life, love and unity, and our desire to receive Communion in spite of our inability to do so.
With that in mind, I now invite you to bow your head, to close your eyes and recollect yourselves.
Silence
Deep in our hearts,
may a burning desire arise within us to unite ourselves with Jesus,
in sacramental communion,
and then to bring His love to life into our lives,
loving others as He loved us.
All remain in silence for 5 minutes for a
heart-to-heart conversation with Jesus Christ.
A hymn of thanksgiving may be sung.
All stand.
All recite together the following prayer:
Enable us, we pray, almighty God,
to proclaim the power of the risen Lord,
that we, who have received the pledge of his gift,
may come to possess all he gives
when it is fully revealed.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
FINAL BLESSING
The leader of the celebration, with hands joined in prayer,
says the blessing in the name of all:
Through the intercession of St. N.
[patron saint of the parish, diocese or country],
and of all the saints of God,
May the God of perseverance and courage
grant us to manifest throughout our lives
the spirit of sacrifice, compassion and love
of Christ Jesus.
Thus, in the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we will give glory to God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for ever and ever!
Amen.
All together facing the cross, each with their hands joined in prayer,
invoke the Lord’s Blessing:
May the grace of God descend upon us
and remain with us forever. Amen.
All make the Sign of the Cross.
Then parents may trace the Sign of the Cross on their children’s foreheads.
To conclude the celebration, the participants may sing the Regina Caeli,
or some other joyful, well-known Marian hymn.
Regína caéli, lætáre, Allelúia!
Quia quem meruísti portáre, Allelúia!
Resurréxit, sicut dixit, Allelúia!
Ora pro nóbis Déum, Allelúia!
O Queen of heaven rejoice! Alleluia!
For He whom thou didst merit to bear, Alleluia!
Hath arisen as he said, Alleluia!
Pray for us to God, Alleluia!
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To continue to sanctify this day, it would be good to reconnect with the venerable tradition of vespers by celebrating, towards the end of the afternoon, the office of the Liturgy of the Hours, or you can pray today’s Evening Prayer, which can be found on the Magnificat website.
Throughout the Easter season, Aleteia will propose daily guides for celebrations at home, to help you continue to sanctify the each day, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
You can also find other resources for free on the Magnificat website.
And today we celebrate...