Here you have the prayers, readings, and everything else you need to celebrate with God’s Word.
In order to worthily sanctify the Third Sunday of Easter,
Aleteia proposes this celebration of the Word of God at home.
In collaboration with Magnificat magazine
Instructions:
- This celebration requires the presence of at least two people.
- If you’re alone, you can simply read this celebration, united in your heart and spirit with the Church. You can also watch the Mass on television.
- Choose the most convenient time, from Saturday evening (the vigil of Sunday) to Sunday evening.
- 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 an appropriate distance of at least a yard between each.
- Take the time to renew a little the prayer corner’s decorations: images, candles, real or artificial flowers, drawings by your children, garlands, etc.
- A simple cross or crucifix must always be visible in the background.
- Designate a person to lead the prayer.
- The leader will also direct the preparation of the celebration, during which he or she will mark the length of the periods of silence.
- Designate readers for the readings.
- During the preparation of the celebration: you can prepare petitions for the Prayers of the Faithful or Universal Prayer (in case that is not possible, a standard list of petitions is provided here for use during the course of the celebration); you can decide whether or not to use the Easter Sequence; and suitable hymns may be prepared as well.
THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
Celebration of the Word
“Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.”
The leader of the celebration reads:
The disciples on the road to Emmaus hear
the Scriptures interpreted in a way that had
never occurred to them before.
It causes their hearts to burn within them; it is what they
have been waiting to hear all their lives.
It moves them to beg Jesus, “Stay with us.”
Our own hearts burn as we hear Peter
interpret Psalm 16 with the same striking authority.
The words that speak of Christ’s Resurrection
“You have made known to me the paths
of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence”
have totally revivified Peter’s own life.
The Eucharist is the enduring proof we have been
“ransomed from all our futile conduct
by the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.”
In this time, when we
may be tempted to be “downcast,” let us be confident that the Lord
remains with us and in us even when he seems to “vanish from sight.”
Even in difficult and painful circumstances,
the victory of Christ on Easter remains sure.
O Jesus, during this time 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.
The Gloria is then said or sung:
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to people of good will.
We praise you, we bless you,
we adore you, we glorify you,
we give you thanks for your great glory.
Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.
Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us;
you take away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father,
have mercy on us.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Glória in excélsis Deo
et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.
Laudámus te, benedícimus te,
adoramus te, glorificámus te,
gratias agimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam,
Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis, Deus Pater omnípotens.
Dómine Fili Unigénite, Jesu Christe,
Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius Patris,
qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis;
qui tollis peccáta mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad déxteram Patris, miserére nobis.
Quóniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dóminus,
tu solus Altíssimus, Jesu Christe,
cum Sancto + Spíritu : in glória Dei Patris.
Amen.
PRAYER
The leader says the opening prayer:
May your people exult for ever, O God,
in renewed youthfulness of spirit,
so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption,
we may look forward in confident hope
to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
All sit down.
FIRST READING (Acts 2:14, 22-33)
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
You who are Israelites, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.
“My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father
and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
PSALM (16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11)
R/ Alleluia ! Alleluia ! Alleluia !
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot. R/
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. R/
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.R/
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.R/
SECOND READING (1 Peter 1:17-21)
Beloved:
If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially
according to each one’s works,
conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning,
realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished lamb.
He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL (Luke 24:13-35)
Alleluia. Alleluia.
Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
Alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
At the end of the Gospel, all sing or say again the joy of the Resurrection:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
All are seated, and the leader repeats slowly,
as if it were a far-off echo:
“Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.”
All observe three minutes of silence for silent personal meditation.
All then stand to profess the faith of the Church
saying the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I 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. Amen.
UNIVERSAL PRAYER
All remain standing for the prayers of the faithful, as prepared ahead of time. The following intercessions may be used instead, separating the intentions with an intervening moment of silence.
The leader of the prayer says:
God the Father sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.
We beg him now for the fullness of life as we pray:
All say the refrain:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
- That those who have been preparing to enter the Church may grow ever stronger in
their faith and be powerful witnesses of the Gospel.R/ - For civil leaders and lawmakers: that the light and wisdom of Christ would illumine their decisions and strengthen them, especially as they continue to address the coronavirus pandemic. Let us pray to the Lord.R/
- For Christian families: that they will sanctify Christ as Lord in their hearts and homes. Let us pray to the Lord. R/
- For the sick, the suffering, the unemployed, and the dying. Let us pray to the Lord. R/
- Sustain the courage and self-sacrifice of all those who work caring for the sick and seeking to find a cure for them; R/
- For all those who have ceased to practice the faith, that in this time of trial they will be moved to return to the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord. R/
- For the grace this week to remain conscious of Christ’s abiding presence among us, that he may sanctify all that we say and do. Let us pray to the Lord. R/
The people present may add, in turn, their own intentions. At the end of each of them, all repeat the refrain together:
R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
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.
You may optionally stand and say or sing a beautiful Alleluia once more:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
All remain standing, turning to face the Cross of Christ. With hands joined in prayer, the prayer leader, in the name of all, says the prayer of blessing:
FINAL BLESSING
May God, who by the Resurrection of his Only Begotten Son
was pleased to confer on us
the gift of redemption and of adoption,
give us gladness by his blessing. Amen.
May he, by whose redeeming work
we have received the gift of everlasting freedom,
make us heirs to an eternal inheritance.
Amen.Amen.
And may we, who have already risen with Christ
in Baptism through faith,
by living in a right manner on this earth,
be united with him in the homeland of heaven. Amen.
All together, each with hands joined in prayer:
And may the blessing of almighty God,
come down on us and remain with us for ever. 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 the Lord’s Resurrection, Aleteia will propose occasional guides for celebrations of the Word at home. This way, in your home, you can continue to keep Sunday holy, despite the circumstances, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
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 here.
You can also find other resources for free on the Magnificat website.
