VIGIL OF PENTECOST
Station at St John Lateran
The ancient Vigil of Pentecost is
modelled after the Vigil of Easter, and similar to it was a place for Baptisms.
It consists of the reading of Old Testament prophecies.
The Blessing of the Font, the Litany
and Mass.
The Vigil of Pentecost has no
parallels to the blessing of the new fire or of the candle at the Easter Vigil,
its full form begins immediately with the reading of the prophecies in the
still dark church. These texts foreshadow the meaning of Baptism and therefore
focus on God’s covenant, His saving power and care for His people, and the
promise of resurrection.
PROPHECY I
Gen. 22:1-29
In those days: God tempted Abraham,
and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. He said to him:
Take thine only begotten son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of
vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the
mountains, which I will show thee. So Abraham, rising up in the night, saddled
his ass; and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son. And when he had
cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had
commanded him. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar
off. And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass; I and the boy
will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped will return
to you. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son;
and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on
together, Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou,
son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood; where is the victim for the holocaust? And
Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for a holocaust, my son. So
they went on together; and they came to the place which God had showed him,
where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had
bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. And he put
forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son. And behold an Angel of
the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered:
Here I am. And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy neither do thou
any thing to him; now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thine
only begotten son for my sake. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his
back a ram amongst the briars, sticking fast by his horns, which he took and
offered for an holocaust instead of his son. And he called the name of that
place: The Lord seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the
Lord will see. And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from
heaven, saying: By mine own self have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine only begotten son for my sake;
I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as
the sand that is by the sea-shore. Thy seed shall possess the gates of their
enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because
thou hast obeyed my voice. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to
Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.
COLLECT
O God, who didst give to mankind an
example of obedience in the action of thy servant Abraham, grant us both to
break down the perversity of our wills and to fulfil in all things the
righteousness of thy commands. Through our Lord.
PROPHECY
II
Exod. 14:24-31, 15:1-2
In those days: It came to pass in the
morning watch, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army, through the
pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host; and overthrew the wheels of
the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let
us flee from Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against us. And the Lord said
to Moses: Stretch fourth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again
upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. And when Moses had
stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day
to the former place; and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came
upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters
returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh,
who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them
remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon
dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the
left; and the Lord delivered Israel in that day out of the hands of the
Egyptians. And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore, and the mighty
hand that the Lord had used against them; and the people feared the Lord, and
they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant. Then Moses and the children of
Israel sung this canticle to the Lord, and said:
Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously honoured: the horse and
the ride he hath thrown into the sea: he became my helper and protector for my
safety. V. This is my God, and I will honour him: the God of my father, and I will
extol him. V. He is the Lord that destroys wars: the Lord is his name.
COLLECT
O God, who by the light of the New
Testament hast expounded the miracles wrought in the first ages of the world, so
that the Red Sea was a figure of the sacred font, and the deliverance of the
people out of the bondage of Egypt did represent the Christian sacraments:
grant that all nations who have now obtained the birthright of Israel by the
merit of faith may be born again by the participation of thy Spirit. Through
the same Lord, in unity with the same Holy Ghost.
PROPHECY III:
Dtn.
31:22-30, 32:1-4
In those days: Moses wrote the
canticle, and taught it the children of Israel. And the Lord commanded Josue
the son of Nun, and said: Take courage, and be valiant; for thou shalt bring
the children of Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with
thee. Therefore, after Moses wrote the words of this law in a volume, and
finished it, he commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, saying: Take this book and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord our God, that it may be there for a testimony against
thee. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck. While I am yet living,
and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord. How
much more when I shall be dead? Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes,
and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and I will
call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death
you will do wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have
commanded you; and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you
shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your
hands. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel,
the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.
Attend, O heaven, and I will speak: and let the earth hear the words
that come out of my mouth V. Let my speech be expected like the rain: and let my words fall like the
dew V. Like the shower upon the grass,
and like the snow upon the dry herb, because I will invoke the name of the
Lord. V. Confess the greatness of our God:
the works of God are perfect, and all his ways are justice. V. God is faithful, in whom there is no iniquity: the
Lord is just and holy.
COLLECT
O God, the glory of the faithful and
the life of the just, who hast instructed us also by the canticle of thy
servant Moses; grant to all nations the gift of thy mercy, by granting
happiness, and removing fear, that the threatened punishment may turn to their
eternal salvation. Through our Lord.
PROPHECY IV
Is.
4:1-6, 5:1-2
And in that day seven women shall
take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own
apparel; only let us be called by thy name, take away our reproach. In that
day, the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of
the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that have escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass that every one that shall be left in Sion, and that
shall remain in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every one that is written in
life in Jerusalem. If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of
Sion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by
the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create
upon every place of Mount Sion, and where he is called upon, a cloud by day,
and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night; for over all the
glory shall be a protection. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the
day time from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and
from rain.
My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place V. And he enclosed it with a fence, and made a ditch
round it, and planted it with the vine of Sorec, and built a tower in the midst
thereof. V. And he made a wine-press in it: for the house of Israel is the vineyard
of the Lord of hosts.
COLLECT
O almighty and eternal God, who by
thy only Son hast shown thyself the husbandman of thy Church, mercifully
cultivating every branch which bringeth forth fruit in that same Christ, who is
the true vine, that it may be more fruitful; let not the thorns of sin prevail
against thy faithful, whom thou hast transplanted like a vineyard out of Egypt
by the baptismal font; but protect them by thy holy Spirit, that they may be
enriched by everlasting fruits. Through the same Lord, in unity with the same
Holy Ghost.
PROPHECY V
Baruch 3:9-38
Hear, O Israel, the commandments of
life; give ear, that thou mayest learn wisdom. How happeneth it, O Israel, that
thou art in thine enemies’ land? Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou
art defiled with the dead; thou art counted with them that go down into hell.
Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom. For if thou hadst walked in the way
of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever. Learn where is wisdom, where
is strength, where is understanding; that thou mayest know also where is length
of days and life, where is the light of the eyes and peace. Who hath found out
her place? and who hath gone into her treasures? Where are the princes of the
nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth? That take
their pastime with the birds of the air, that hoard up silver and gold, wherein
men trust, and there is no end of their getting, who work in silver and are
solicitous, and their works are unsearchable? They are cut off, and are gone
down to hell, and others are risen up in their place. Young men have seen the
light, and dwelt upon the earth; but the way of knowledge they have not known,
nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children. received
it: it is far from their face; it hath not been heard of in the land of
Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The children of Agar also, that
search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of
Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding;
but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her
paths. O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of
his possession! It is great and hath no end; it is high and immense. There were
the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature,
expert in war. The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of
knowledge; therefore did they perish. And because they had not wisdom, they
perished through their folly. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and
brought her down from the clouds? Who hath passed over the sea, and found her,
and brought her, preferably to chosen gold? There is none that is able to know
her ways, nor that can search out her paths; but he that knoweth all things
knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding. He that prepared
the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts? He that
sendeth forth light, and it goeth; and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with
trembling. And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced; they
were called, and they said: Here we are; and with cheerfulness they have shined
forth to him that made them. This is our God, and there shall no other be
accounted of in comparison of him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and
gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterwards he was seen
upon earth, and conversed with men.
COLLECT
O God, who hast commanded us by the
mouth of the prophets to relinquish the things of time and press on to those of
eternity; grant that by thy heavenly inspiration we thy servants may accomplish
that we know thou hast commanded. Through our Lord.
PROPHECY VI
Ez. 37:1-14
In those days: The hand of the Lord
was upon me, and brought me forth in the Spirit of the Lord : and set me down
in the midst of a plain that was full of bones; and he led me about through
them on every side. Now there were very many upon the face of the plain, and
they were exceeding dry. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these
bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest. And he said to me:
Prophesy concerning these bones, and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit
into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause
flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin; and I will give you
spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I
prophesied as he had commanded me, and as I prophesied there was a noise, and
behold a commotion; and the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I
saw, and behold the sinews and the flesh came upon them; and the skin was
stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them. And he said to me:
Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus
saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon those
slain, and let them live again. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and
the spirit came into them, and they lived; and they stood up upon their feet,
an exceeding great army. And he said to me: Son of man, all these bones are the
house of Israel. They say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we
are cut off. Therefore, prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:
Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my
people; and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I
am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought
you out of your graves, O my people; and shall have put my spirit in you, and
you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land, saith the Lord
almighty.
COLLECT
O Lord God of hosts, who raisest up
what is fallen, and keepest up what is raised: increase the number of those who
are to be renewed by the sanctification of thy holy name: that all who are
washed in holy baptism may always be guided by thy inspiration. Through our
Lord.
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