Re: CHAT: Religions (was: Visible planets)

> My husband was just saying that he thought that Holy Saturday is the one
> day of the year when no Mass is performed.  Is that the case?
Since Padraic hasn't answered yet, I'll pipe up. Actually, there's two days -
there's no mass Good Friday either. There is a Liturgy of the Word and
Communion, but it's not a Mass because there's no Consecration (there is a
large batch consecrated at the Holy Thursday mass for Friday's use).

But it's true that there's no mass on Holy Saturday - it's a day of preparation.
On Holy Saturday, you can't receive the Eucharist either, except as viaticum
(as part of your last rites). Technically, the Easter Vigil begins (and
possibly ends, depending on what time you start and how quickly you go through
it) on Saturday, but liturgically speaking it's already Easter (or rather, I
believe it becomes Easter when the lights go on at the Gloria).

 It certainly
> makes sense.  The East does things a bit differently.  The Liturgy on Holy
> Saturday is the longest one in the entire year.  It is a Vesperal Liturgy
> (but performed in the morning) with 15 old testament readings, including
> the entire book of Jonah.  That Liturgy is truly amazing, I highly
> recommend that you try to attend one in English sometime.
Sounds like Easter Vigil, our longest Mass of the year. Ours is actually at night
though, and we've only got 7 OT readings (and 7 psalms). I think the earliest
you can start is 9 p.m., though if you really want to be proper you do it so
the Gloria (after the last OT reading and psalm) happens as close to midnight
as possible, which means starting somewhere around 10 or 10:30. People tend to
whine about being up any later than they absolutely have to be though - the
same complaint that brought us "Midnight Mass" at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve (but I
digress).

My first Easter Vigil definitely ranked up there under "coolest experiences of my life."

Heather

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