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HOLY NIGHT
EASTER VIGIL MASS
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FIRST READING
GENESIS 1:1-2:2
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A READING FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS
(GOD SAW ALL HE MADE, AND INDEED IT WAS VERY GOOD.)
[In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.]
Now the earth was a formless void,
there was darkness over the deep,
and God’s spirit hovered over the water.
God said,
“Let there be light,”
and there was light.
God saw that light was good,
and God divided light from darkness.
God called light
“Day”,
and darkness he called
“Night”.
Evening came and morning came:
the first day.
God said,
“Let there be a vault in the waters to divide the waters in two.”
And so it was.
God made the vault,
and it divided the waters above the vault
from the waters under the vault.
God called the vault
“Heaven”.
Evening came and morning came:
second day.
God said,
“Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass,
and let dry land appear.”
And so it was.
God called the dry land
“earth”
and the mass of waters
“seas”,
and God saw that it was good.
God said,
“Let the earth produce vegetation:
seedbearing plants,
and fruit trees bearing fruit with their seed inside,
on the earth.”
And so it was.
The earth produced vegetation:
plants bearing seed in their several kinds,
and trees bearing fruit with their seed inside in their several kinds.
God saw that it was good.
Evening came and morning came:
the third day.
God said ,
“Let there be light in the vault of heaven
to divide day from night,
and let them indicate festivals, days and years.
Let them be lights in the vault of heaven
to shine on the earth.”
And so it was.
God made the two great lights:
the greater light to govern the day,
the smaller light to govern the night,
and the stars.
God set them in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth,
to govern the day and night
and to divide light from darkness.
God saw that it was good.
Evening came and morning came:
the fourth day.
God said,
“Let the waters teem with living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven.”
And so it was.
God created great sea-serpents
and every kind of living creature
with which the waters teem
and every kind of winged creature.
God saw that it was good.
God blessed them,
saying,
“Be fruitful,
multiply,
and fill the waters of the seas;
and let the birds multiply upon the earth.”
Evening came and morning came:
the fifth day.
God said,
“Let the earth produce every kind of living creature:
cattle, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast.”
And so it was.
God made every kind of wild beast ,
every kind of cattle,
and every kind of land reptile.
God saw that it was good.
[God said,
“Let us make man in our own image,
in the likeness of ourselves,
and let them be masters
of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven,
the cattle, all the wild beast
and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.”
God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.
God blessed them,
saying to them,
“Be fruitful, multiply,
fill the earth and conquer it.
Be masters of
the fish of the sea,
the birds of heaven
and all living animals on the earth.”
God said,
“See,
I give you all the seed-bearing plants
that are upon the whole earth,
and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit;
this shall be your food.
To all the wild beast,
all the birds of the heaven
and all living reptiles on the earth
I give all the foliage of plants for food.”
And so it was.
God saw all he had made,
and indeed it was very good.
Evening came and morning came:
the sixth day.
Thus heaven and earth were completed
with all their array.
On the seventh day
God completed the work he had been doing.
He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.]
The word of Lord.
R.) Thanks be to God.
(SHORT FORM. VERSES 1:1.1:26-2:2. READ BETWEEN [ ].)
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FIRST RESPONSORIAL PSALM
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PSALM 103
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R.) Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
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Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe! (R.)
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You founded the earth on its base,
to stand firm from age to age.
You wrapped it with the ocean like a cloak:
the waters stood higher than the mountains. (R.)
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You make springs gush forth in the valleys:
they flow in between the hills.
On their banks dwell the birds of heaven;
from their branches they sing their song. (R.)
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From your dwelling you water the hills;
earth drinks its fill of your gift.
You make the grass grow for the cattle
and the plants to serve man’s needs. (R.)
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How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches.
Bless the Lord, my soul! (R.)
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ALTERNATIVE FIRST RESPONSORIAL PSALM
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PSALM 32
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R.) The Lord fills the earth with his love.
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The word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love. (R.)
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By his word the heavens were made,
by his breath of his mouth all the stars.
He collects the waves of the ocean;
he stores up the depths of the sea. (R.)
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They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own.
From the heavens the Lord looks forth,
he sees all the children of men. (R.)
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Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you. (R.)
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PRAYER
LATIN
Oremus.
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui es in omnium operum tuorum
dispensatione mirabilis,
intellegant redempti tui,
non fuisse excellentius,
quod initio factus est mundus,
quam quod in fine sæculorum
Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus.
Qui vivit et regnat
in sæcula sæculorum.
R.) Amen.
VEL:
Oremus.
Deus,
qui mirabiliter creasti hominem
et mirabilius redemisti,
da nobis,
quæsumus,
contra oblectamenta peccati mentis
ratione persistere,
ut mereamur ad æterna
gaudia pervenire.
Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
R.) Amen.
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ENGLISH
Let us pray.
Almighty ever-living God,
who are wonderful in the ordering of all your works,
may those you have redeemed understand
that there exists nothing more marvellous
than the world’s creation
in the beginning
except that,
at the end of the ages,
Christ our Passover
has been sacrificed.
Who lives and reigns, for ever and ever.
R.) Amen.
OR:
Let us pray.
O God,
who wonderfully created human nature
and still wonderfully redeemed it,
grant us,
we pray,
to set our minds against the enticement of sin,
that we may merit to attain eternal joys.
Through Christ our Lord.
R.) Amen
