Exalt, let us exalt! Christ is Risen!

It is Easter! But a strange one it is! But while it may seem we’re living in a world immersed in “death” or at least the danger of it (with the coronavirus and such), that should not minimize our rejoicing on this day! Christ is the VICTOR over Death, Christ has CONQUERED Death! And that is what we celebrate, that He has come ultimately to liberate us from sin and death. Even though we struggle against such things in this world, Christ is Risen and that is our great hope!

One of my favorite parts of the Easter Liturgy is the Service of Light at the beginning of Easter Vigil on Saturday night. When the Church is all in darkness, and the single light of the Paschal Candle, the symbol of the light of Christ breaking into the darkness of our world, the darkness of sin and death, and that light is used to light all the other candles. Then after this great illumination, we sing the Exultet. It is an ancient hymn of Christianity. While its exact origin is uncertain, there is evidence it has existed since the fourth or fifth century.

It is always very moving to me to be able to sing the Exultet. The joy in it that is chanted out of the darkness is striking to me every year! It would be a good spiritual practice to look up the words of this beautiful triumphant hymn and to meditate on some of the words. I could write a whole series of columns just on this hymn alone! For this hymn speaks to the depth of the triumph and the joy in Christ’s victory, of His Resurrection. His saving work far surpasses the Original Sin. It even goes on to refer to the sin of Adam and Eve as “O happy fault” because it brought about “so great, so glorious a Redeemer” that the sin of Adam was “destroyed completely in the Death of Christ.” The tremendous hope that our sins, our faults, our failure, our failure is infinitesimal, is NOTHING in comparison to Christ and the saving work He has wrought! That even the darkest of darkness, in the end, shall pass and shall be swallowed up in the Victory of Christ!

To close, here are a few words from the text of the Exultet:

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…

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

…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…

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

-Fr. Kevin