Easter is the premier Christian feast and the summit of the Liturgical year. All liturgies preceding Easter anticipate it and those proceeding from the feast commemorate it. The readings and the gospels of the Easter Vigil and the Easter Day Mass (and the optional afternoon Mass) trace salvation history from creation to the road to Emmaus. A single element of the Easter Vigil encapsulates the essence of the Feast of the Resurrection. That is the Exsultet or Easter Proclamation [Listen Here]
Properly called the Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet (or Exultet) which means to rejoice or express great joy, is the name most often used. It is celebrated before the lighted Easter candle at the conclusion of the procession to the altar following the lighting of the Easter candle from the Easter fire. The darkness of the unlighted church has been dispelled as the Easter fire is spread through the church by worshippers’ tapers lighted from the Easter candle. Chanting of the Exsultet by rights is the function of a deacon, but may be done by a priest or, in a truncated version, by a cantor.
Its first lines call on heaven and earth to rejoice at Jesus’ triumph over death
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! …
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.
Recalling God’s rescuing Israel from slavery in Egypt and guiding them to safety by a pillar of cloud and fire, the hymn compares the rescued catechumens from the slavery of sin through Baptism, to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
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.
Easter, when Christ overcame death, ransomed us from the slavery of sin and reversed the sin of Adam, which, ignominious as it was, provided the path to redemption
This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
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 !
O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!
Again we find the resurrection theme of light permeating the darkness, making this night “bright as day” and dispelling the results of Adam’s fall while restoring innocence. The Easter candle is offered to God as a solemn gift of the Church and sacrifice of praise.
This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me,
and full of gladness.
The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.
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.
But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.
The Exsultet concludes with a prayer that on this blessed night this blessed candle’s light may continue unceasingly to overcome the darkness of the world, be joined to the heavenly lights and be found still upon the return of Jesus, the unquenchable Morning Star.
O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.
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.
R: Amen.
I pray that the Light of Christ may continue to shine brightly this Easter and in days to come.
—
Image Credit: The Resurrection of Christ Alonso López de Herrera (ca. 1585 – ca.1675), Wikimedia Commons