Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday,
4-5 April 2015
“Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus
who was crucified; He is not here; for He has
risen even as He said.” Mt. 28:5
The Solemnity of the Resurrection of Our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday is
the most joyful of feasts. It is Jesus’ triumph over
death and a pledge of our own resurrection from
the dead at the end of our life. The Angel tells this
to the women at the tomb in today’s gospel (Mk.
16:1-7): “Do not be terrified. You are looking for
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has
risen, he is not here.” Mk. 16: 6. St. Peter also
tells us how important is Christ’s Resurrection from
the dead: “That through His name all who believe
in Him may have forgiveness of sins in His
name.” Acts 10:43 With our baptism, we have
been cleansed of sin through Christ’s sacrifice as
we see in today’s Epistle (I Cor. 5:7-8): “Brethren,
purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new
paste, as you are unleavened: For Christ our
Pasch is sacrificed.” I Cor. 5:7 By Jesus’ Passion,
Death and Resurrection, we have been freed from
sin and reborn to eternal glory in heaven.
Jesus Conquers Death and Sin
Dom Gueranger in his “Liturgical Year,”
Vol. 7 calls Easter “the feast of feasts, and the
solemnity of solemnities...It is on this day that
the mission of the Word Incarnate attains the
object towards which it has hitherto been
tending: man is raised up from his fall and
regains what he had lost by Adam’s sin.
“Christmas gave us the Man-God; three
days have scarcely passed since we witnessed his
infinitely precious Blood shed for our ransom;
but now, on the day of Easter, our Saviour Jesus
is no longer the victim of death; He is a
conqueror, who destroys death, child of sin, and
proclaims life, that undying life which He has
purchased for us. The humiliation of his
swathing-bands, the sufferings of his agony and
cross, these are passed; all is now glory—glory
for himself, and glory for us. On the day of
Easter, God regains, by the Resurrection of the
Man-God, his creation such as he made it at the
beginning; the only vestige now left of death is
sin, the likeness of which the Lamb of God
deigned to take upon himself. Neither is it Jesus
alone that returns to eternal life; the whole
human race also has risen to immortality
together with our Jesus. ‘By a man came death,’
says the Apostle; and by a Man the Resurrection
of the dead; and as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ all shall be made alive.’” (I Cor. 15:21-2)
Gueranger, p. 1-2
Easter Sunday Is the Renewal of Creation
Again, Dom Gueranger recounts the glory
of Christ’s Resurrection on the first day of the week
“...whereby He conquered death and proclaimed
life to the world. It was a favoured day of the
week that he had, four thousand years
previously, created light; by selecting it now for
the commencement of the new life which he
graciously imparts to man, he would show us
that Easter is the renewal of the entire creation.
Not only is it the anniversary of his glorious
Resurrection to be, henceforward, the greatest of
days, but every Sunday throughout the year is to
be a sort of Easter, a holy and sacred day. The
Synagogue, by God’s command, kept holy the
Saturday or the Sabbath in honour of God’s
resting after six days of the creation; but the
Church, the Spouse, is commanded to honour
the work of her Lord. She allows the Saturday to
pass—it is the day on which her Jesus rested in
the sepulchre; but, now that she is illumined
with the brightness of the Resurrection, she
devotes to the contemplation of his work the
first day of the week; it is the day of light, for on
it he called forth material light (which was the
first manifestation of life upon chaos), and on the
same, he that is the ‘Brightness of the Father’
(Heb. 1:3) and ‘the Light of the world,’ (Jn.
8:12),rose from the darkness of the tomb.”
Gueranger, p. 16-7
The Eighth Day---of Eternity—
Our New Sabbath
Dom Gueranger reminds us, “Let then, the
week with its Sabbath pass by; what we
Christians want is the eighth day, the day of
eternity, the day whose light is not intermittent
or partial, but endless and unlimited. Thus speak
the holy Fathers, when explaining the
substitution of the Sunday for the Saturday. It
was indeed, right that man should keep, as the
day of his weekly and spiritual repose, that on
which the creator of the visible world had taken
his divine rest; but it was a commemoration of
the material world only. The Eternal Word
comes down into the world that he has created;
he comes with rays of his divinity clouded
beneath the humble veil of our flesh; he comes to
fulfil the figures of the first Covenant. Before
abrogating the Sabbath, he would observe it as
the day of rest, after his Passion, in the silence of
the sepulchre; but, early on the eighth day, he
rises to life, and the life is one of glory. ‘Let us,’
says the Abbot Rupert, ‘leave the Jews to enjoy
the ancient Sabbath, which is a memorial of the
visible creation. They know not how to love or
desire or merit aught but earthly things...They
would not recognize this world’s creator as their
king, because he said: “Blessed are the poor” and
“Woe to the rich!” But our Sabbath has been
transferred from the seventh to the eighth day,
and the eighth is the first. And rightly was the
seventh changed into the eighth day, because we
Christians put our joy in a better work than the
creation of the world... ‘Let the lovers of the
world keep a Sabbath for its creation; but our
joy is the salvation of the world, for our life yea
and our rest is hidden in Christ in God.’”
Gueranger, p. 17
“If you are risen with Christ, seek the things that
are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand
of the Father.” Col. 3:1
Let us then seek the eternal Sabbath of the
eternal light and rest which Jesus has purchased for
us by His Precious Blood. Our true home is in
heaven! Our salvation, the fruit of Christ’s Passion
and Resurrection, is guaranteed if we, seek the
things that are above where Christ is sitting at the
right hand of the Father.” Col. 3:1
Easter Novena of Masses
The Masses from the Easter Vigil, 4 April 2014
to Divine Mercy Sunday 12 April 2015 will be offered
for all the Relatives and Benefactors of the Franciscans
of the Immaculate. May God bless you all for all the
good that you do for the Friars and Sisters of Lanherne
Services for Holy Week at the Convent
Church of St. Joseph and St. Anne
Confessions one half-hour before all the services
and on Holy Saturday from 10:00 AM-12 Noon.
(If these times are not convenient, just call and make an
appointment.)
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
on Thursday: 2 April at 5:00 P. M.:
After Mass there will be Adoration at the
Altar of Repose after Mass until
Midnight.
Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on
Good Friday: 3 April at 3:00 P. M
Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at
7:00 P.M. (Outdoors, weather permitting)
Holy Saturday: 4 April :
Confessions: 10 AM to Noon
Easter Vigil: 4 April at 8:30 PM.
(After the Easter Vigil Services all are welcome to come to
friary after the Vigil for tea and biscuits and more.
Easter Sunday: 5 April:
Holy Mass-10:00 AM
Divine Mercy Sunday 12 April
(1st Sunday after Easter):
12 April 2014
10:00 AM Sunday Holy Mass
2:00 PM Adoration of the Most Blessed
Sacrament- (with Confessions)
3:00 PM Divine Mercy Chaplet & Holy
Mass
(After the Divine Mercy Services, there will be tea at St.
Joseph’s Hall. All are welcome. )
Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix
(MIM) 11 April 2015
This month because of Holy
Saturday, the MIM will meet on the
second Saturday of April, 11/4/15
We will have our monthly formation
program for those who interested in affiliating
themselves with the Marian Spirituality of the
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The day
begins at 9:30 AM and goes until 4 PM and
includes two conferences, Holy Mass, adoration
and the rosary. (see flyer on door)
This spirituality is Marian and Franciscan
and includes the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi,
St. Maximilian Kolbe and other Franciscan saints.
“The fundamental aim of the MIM is the
fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation and
sanctification of all souls through the maternal
mediation of the Immaculate to the supreme
glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” (Article 2:
Statute)
It is most important at this time in our world
to come together and learn about Our Lady and
her messages especially Fatima. Pope John Paul II:
On November 9, 1976 said in the USA as Karol
Cardinal Wojtyla: “We are now standing in face of
the greatest historical confrontation humanity has
gone through. I do not think that the wide circles of
American society or the wide circles of the Christian
community realize this fully. We are now facing the
final confrontation between the Church and the
Anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-gospel.”
We hope that all of you will consider joining the
MIM and work for your own sanctification and the
sanctification of so many souls who are in danger of
being lost for all eternity in hell as Our Lady said at
Fatima.
