Today and the next two Sundays can get confusing if your community hasn’t already made certain decisions. If there will be baptisms at the Easter Vigil, will the scrutinies be celebrated? If so, the Year A readings will be used. Some communities—in which there will be no baptisms at the Easter Vigil—will use the Year C readings, or the Year A readings. But the decisions have to be made early so that presiders will know what to preach on, lectors will be able to prepare properly, and music directors will be able to choose the appropriate psalm and other music specific to the readings.

Communities of religious men and women—monasteries, religious orders, convents and the like—usually don’t have baptisms at the Vigil, because their member are already baptized adults. Many small faith communities don’t have baptisms at the Vigil either, for various reasons. Since the church’s major emphasis is on baptism at the Vigil, are non-catechumenate communities to be considered second-class?

Of course not. Defining a community by what it doesn’t have is ridiculous. The community must decide how it wishes to celebrate. Perhaps the renewal of baptismal vows will find a more important place in their Vigil liturgies. Perhaps the Litany of Saints will be adapted and expanded. Perhaps the manner is which Scripture is proclaimed can be more interactive.

The water imagery that pervades today’s Year A scriptures can be linked musically to the Triduum, challenging assembly members to renew their own baptismal call and rejoice in the company of fellow believers.