Here’s how to celebrate the Easter Vigil at home on Holy Saturday evening

Here you have the prayers, readings, and everything else you need to celebrate with God’s Word.Aleteia, with the help of Magnificat magazine,
proposes that you sanctify these Easter celebrations
with a celebration of the Word of God at home.

Instructions specific to the Liturgy of light:

We should dedicate a good part of Holy Saturday to preparing a truly unforgettable celebration. It’s worth the effort.
Ideally, the participants should eat a light dinner, or a simple snack (under a regime of fasting and abstinence) so as to begin the celebration half an hour after sunset.
It’s a good idea to plan a festive snack with hot chocolate, pastries, muffins, etc. for after the celebration. It’s the most beautiful celebration of the year. Hallelujah!
During these times of confinement, it would not be out of place to open of a bottle of champagne, given the importance of celebrating the definitive victory of Christ, our brother and our God, over the powers of Evil and Death.

Practical considerations:

If possible, set aside in different room than the one where the prayer corner is located: a matchbox, a large candle, and one candle per person.
Ideally, there should be at least one candle that can last the entire duration of the celebration, to serve as a “paschal candle.”
Participants who do not have candles will be able to hold their smartphone, in “airplane” mode and with the lamp lit. They will carry them in their joined hands. A flashlight can also do the trick.
In any case, a smartphone with a lighted lamp can be used to read the texts in the dark.
Throughout Good Saturday, the prayer corner is kept unadorned, with only the cross, as on Good Friday. However, all the decorations that will be put back in place during the Easter Vigil should be placed next to it: statues, pictures, icons, candles, flowers, etc. To increase the festive character, you can prepare children’s drawings, paper flowers, decorated eggs, etc. to include in the decoration of the space; and even—why not—beautiful golden Christmas garlands can be added.
Well in advance, the person designated to lead the celebration will carefully take note of the practical indications given here and throughout the liturgy (see below). This will prevent any doubts or improvisation in the course of the liturgy.
Try to find a small bell to ring during the recitation of the Gloria. If no bell is found, you can search on your smartphone for the natural sound of the bells and, you can make the available smartphones ring before and after the Gloria.
You can either print this guide or use your mobile, tablet, laptop, or pc during the celebration.

For those with access to a yard or garden:

In a place where there is no risk of the fire spreading, prepare a brazier or a large bowl. In it, place paper, some twigs, and some pieces of dry wood.
It’s not recommended to make a large fire. If the weather is windy, it is better not to light the fire.
You should have a bucket of water and a blanket nearby in case you have to put out the fire.

General instructions:

This celebration requires the presence of at least two people.
If you’re alone, it is better to simply read the readings and prayers of the Mass of the day in your missal or watch the Mass on television.
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.
A simple cross or crucifix must always be visible in the background.
Designate a person to lead the prayer.
The leader also directs the preparation of the celebration, and will also determine the length of the periods of silence during the same.
Designate readers for the readings.
Prepare appropriate hymns.

EASTER VIGIL

“I am the resurrection and the Life. Do you believe this?”

All the lights in the house should be off.
The participants gather either around the newly lit fire or where the candles have been prepared.

The leader of the celebration reads:

Brothers and sisters,
on this most holy night
when our Lord Jesus Christ passed from death to life,
the Church invites all her children scattered throughout the world
to gather to watch and pray.

Sadly, we are prevented from gathering.
We are not able to take part in the Liturgy of the Light
and the celebration of the Eucharist.

Nevertheless, we know that when
we gather to pray in his name,
Christ is very present among us,
and we believe that when we read his Word in the Church,
it is the Word of God himself speaking to us.
His word is then true nourishment for our lives.

That is why we are going to commemorate together
the Lord’s Resurrection, listening to his Word of Life.
We’re going to do this
in the hope of sharing in his triumph over death.
and living with him forever in God.

Pause

In communion of heart and spirit with the whole Church,
let us celebrate the Light of Christ
and let us listen to his saving Word.

After a moment 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.

LITURGY OF LIGHT

If there is no fire, leader of the celebration lights the candle that will serve as a “paschal candle” and holds it in his hand. Or, if there really is no other possibility, he lights the lamp on his smartphone.

If there is a fire, he waits until the end of the prayer of blessing to light his candle.

PRAYER OF BLESSING

The leader, with hands joined, says the following prayer:

O God, who through your Son
bestowed upon the faithful the fire of your glory,
deign to sanctify this new fire, we pray,
and grant that,
by these paschal celebrations,
we may be so inflamed with heavenly desires,
that with minds made pure
we may attain festivities of unending splendor.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

If there is a fire, the “paschal candle” is lit at the new fire.
In any case, while carrying the lit “paschal candle”, the guide says:

May the light of Christ rising in glory
dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.

All together repeat:

May the light of Christ rising in glory
dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.

ACCLAMATION AND PROCESSION

The parable of the bridesmaids recounts: “At midnight a cry was heard, ‘Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’” It is the same at the Easter Vigil. The great news of the Resurrection bursts out in the night: “Light of Christ!”

Still carrying the “paschal candle,” the leader of the celebration cries out in a loud voice:

The light of Christ!
And all reply:
Thanks be to God.

The guide lights the candles of the other participants with his candle.
Or, everyone turns on the lamp on their smartphone and carries it with their hands together, at chest level.

As far as possible, all go in procession from the outdoor area where the fire is burning, or from the room where we took the candles, to the prayer corner. On arrival, the acclamation is repeated twice in succession:

The light of Christ!
Thanks be to God.

All remain standing, with their candles or lamps lit.

EXSULTET

The Exsultet, in either of its two forms (the full form or the shorter form), cannot be replaced by another form of proclamation, because it transmits “what we have received from tradition,” in the words of St. Paul. Here, we recommend the shorter form

The person most gifted for this will read or sing the verses, with all his heart and breath.

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up to the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R. It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.
Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night
that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners.

O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death’s domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

The lit Paschal candle is placed in the prayer corner in an appropriate and safe manner. Do not forget to extinguish it at the end of the celebration.

Each one extinguishes his or her light and all sit down.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

READING FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

“The Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land.”

A reading from the book of Exodus (Ex 14:15—15:1)

The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to go forward.

And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.

But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.

Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.

The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers.”

The angel of God, who had been leading Israel’s camp,
now moved and went around behind them.

The column of cloud also, leaving the front,
took up its place behind them,
so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians
and that of Israel.

But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed
without the rival camps coming any closer together
all night long.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the LORD swept the sea
with a strong east wind throughout the night
and so turned it into dry land.

When the water was thus divided,
the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

The Egyptians followed in pursuit;
all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after them
right into the midst of the sea.

In the night watch just before dawn
the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud
upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;
and he so clogged their chariot wheels
that they could hardly drive.

With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel,
because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.

Then the LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea,
that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots and their charioteers.”

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.

The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea,
when the LORD hurled them into its midst.

As the water flowed back,
it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army
which had followed the Israelites into the sea.

Not a single one of them escaped.
But the Israelites had marched on dry land
through the midst of the sea,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day
from the power of the Egyptians.

When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore
and beheld the great power that the LORD
had shown against the Egyptians,
they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

All sing or say the response of the psalm immediately after the reading.