As the sun sets and evening darkness begins on Holy Saturday, so does out vigil to witness and rejoice the increasing light coming from Christ, who is rising from the dead this night. This vigil Mass after sundown on Holy Saturday is to rejoice and celebrate the return of Christ the light (John 8:12) from the darkness of the dead, with a motif of the increasing brightness. So we begin this vigil for the Resurrection of Christ with the blessing and lighting of Paschal Candle, which symbolizes the risen Christ. From Paschal Candle, light spread through those who gather for the vigil. Then we make a procession into the dark sanctuary with the lit Paschal Candle, while holding lit candles.
Yes, we proceed into the dark sanctuary with Christ
the light, while a deacon (or a priest) proclaims, “Lumen Christi”(Christ the light), with our response, “Deo gratias”(Thanks be to God).
Then the lit Paschal Candle is placed in the middle
of the sanctuary, and a priest blesses a deacon with these words so that he can
make Paschal Proclamation, known as Exultet
(exultation).
The
Lord be in your heart and on your lips, so that you may worthily proclaim his
Paschal Praise. In the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
With the deacon’s Amen, Exultet begins.
|
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!
Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory
floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal
King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
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.
(Therefore, dearest friends, standing in the awesome glory of this
holy light, invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God almighty, that he, who has been pleased to
number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed, that I may sing this candle's perfect
praises).
(Deacon: The Lord be with you. People: And with your spirit.) Deacon: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them up to the Lord. Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord
our God. People: It is right and just.
It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the
almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son,
his Only Begotten.
Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to
the eternal Father, and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of our ancient
sinfulness.
These, then, are the feasts of
Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one
true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of
believers.
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.
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 for us so great, so
glorious a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld!
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
honour, 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.
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 honour 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.
Amen. |
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum: exsúltent divína mystéria: et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus: et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta, tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse
calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia, tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus: et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula
resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi, ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis
claritátem, una mecum, quæso, Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte. Ut, qui me non meis méritis intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est
aggregáre, lúminis sui claritátem infúndens, cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[V/ Dóminus vobíscum. R/ Et cum spíritu tuo.] V/ Sursum corda. R/ Habémus ad Dóminum. V/ Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro. R/ Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est, invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem Filiúmque eius unigénitum, Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis
ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum
solvit, et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio
cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália, in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur, cuius sánguine postes fidélium
consecrántur.
Hæc nox est, in qua primum patres nostros, fílios
Israel edúctos de Ægypto, Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre
fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est, quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ
illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est, quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in
Christo credéntes, a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum
segregátos, reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est, in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis, Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit, nisi rédimi profuísset. O mira circa nos tuæ pietátis
dignátio! O inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis: ut servum redímeres, Fílium
tradidísti!
O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum, quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére
Redemptórem!
O vere beáta nox, quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam, in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit!
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est: Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur: et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis
meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat: et reddit innocéntiam lapsis et mæstis
lætítiam. Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat et curvat
impéria.
In huius ígitur noctis grátia,
súscipe, sancte Pater, laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum, quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne
solémni, per ministrórum manus de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit
Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia
nóvimus, quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis
accéndit. Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes, mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non
novit. Alitur enim liquántibus ceris, quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius
lámpadis apis mater edúxit.
O vere beáta nox, in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis
divína iungúntur!
Orámus ergo te, Dómine, ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis
consecrátus, ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam, indefíciens persevéret. Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus, supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat: ille, inquam, lúcifer, qui nescit
occásum. Christus Fílius tuus, qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno
géneri serénus illúxit, et vivit et regnat in sæcula
sæculórum.
Amen |
The lumen Christi (Christ the light) of the Paschal Candle signals that the darkness that crept in when Christ prayed in agony, where olives were pressed for oil, Gethsemane, crossing Kidron, where the stream carried blood of sacrificial animals, drained from the Temple, ran, comes to its end. Though the darkness of human evil increased and intensified as Christ went on the Via Dolorosa – Via Crucis toward Calvary (Golgotha) – toward his death on the Cross into the burial of his corpse, as reflected in Tenebrae Service, Hæc ígitur nox est, quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit – tonight is the night that the light of the Paschal Candle, the Lumen Christi, spells out this darkness. Christ is coming out of the darkness of the dead as he is about to rise.
So, we conclude Exultet
with these words:
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat:
ille, inquam, lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus, qui, regréssus ab
ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
So, with this enough “spiritual warm-up” with the Lumen Christi, as Lúcifer Matutínus, in juxtaposition to his mother, Mary the Stella Matutina, we begin Paschal Vigil Mass.
As we go through the Liturgy of the Word for Paschal
Vigil Mass, in the First Reading (Genesis 1:1-2:2), we are reminded that there
were strong winds (ruah) blowing over
waters before God started the works of Creation (Genesis 1:2). The preexistence
of the wind (ruah) is known as the
Holy Spirit, along with the water, echoed in Jesus’ words in John 7:37-39,
leading to the Trinitarian inference: the Father the Creator and the Holy
Spirit, in juxtaposition to the preexisting living water, while Christ the Son
existed before all creations so that these are in him by the Father (Colossians
1:15-20). And, God the Father created light on the first day of Creation to
separate light from darkness (Genesis 1:3-5). Then, on the second day of
Creation, God set the sky, called “dome”, above the waters (Genesis 1:6-8). On
the third day of Creation, God gathered the waters under the sky and brought
dry ground, called the land, and said it was good (Genesis 1:9-10). Furthermore,
God made the land vegetated with seed-bearing plants and saw it good on the
third day (Genesis 1:11-13). On the fourth day of Creation, God set the lights
in the sky, creating the sun to govern the day with greater light and the stars
to govern the night with less light, giving light on earth, and saw this good
(Genesis 1:14-19). So, on the fifth day of Creation, God wanted to let the
water teem with living creatures and blessed the sky and the sea with various
types of living creatures that He created (Genesis 1:20-24). Then on the sixth
day of Creation, God blessed the land with more living creatures but set the
humans apart from the rest of the creatures, in making them in His image and
commissioned them as the stewards of His creations, and thought it was good
(Genesis 1:24-31).
In this First Reading from the Creation narrative,
we see how the light that God brought on the first day of Creation, ran through
the rest of the Creation process, along with the waters. For example, plants
created on the third day, need light for photosynthesis. And, this is
indispensable to sustain the lives of the living creatures that God created on
the fifth and the sixth days, including us, the humans, just as so taught in
natural science. And all of these living being have certain biological clocks
to regulate their own unique physiological functions, based on the regularity
of light, as God separated the day and the night on the fourth day of Creation,
and so taught in natural science.
As this vigil is to ceremonially prepare for the
returning of the Lumen Christi from
the darkness of the dead, with his Resurrection, as reflected in Exultet, the First Reading gives a sense
that the return of Christ from the dead with his Resurrection marks the new
creation, as well as the renewal of the life, which depends on the light and
the water.
Then the Second Reading (Genesis 22:1-18), we recall
how God rewarded the faithfulness of Abraham. Also from this reading, we see
that the Passion and death of Christ the Son reflects God’s faithful covenant
love (chesed) to save us upon
redemption, as it was reflected in Abraham’s faithfulness to God, who commanded
him to sacrifice Abraham, testing the quality of his faith. Instead of letting
Abraham sacrifice his son, Isaac, God sacrifice His only begotten Son, Jesus, on
Good Friday, to reverse the effect of our sins, which is reflected in the Third
Reading (Exodus 14:15-15:1), Fourth Reading (Isaiah 54:5-14), Fifth Reading
(Isaiah 1-11), Sixth Reading (Baruch 3:9-15, 32 – 4:4), and Seventh Reading
(Ezekiel 36:16-17). Through these readings, we reflect how God consistently
brought us back on the right relationship with Him whenever we fall to sins,
offending Him. These readings are testimonies to God’s great love (chesed) and its culmination was made
through His Son, whom He sent to us in the human flesh of Jesus, in his
sacrificial death on the Cross. And, his Resurrection from the dead, which we
are awaiting in this vigil, makes the renewed right relationship with God, our
Creator, as in the new creation, thanks to his blood, which is the new covenant
(Luke 22:20) for this new rightful relationship with God.
So, this night of Paschal Vigil, the blood of Christ
offered in the cup of blessing and salvation in the Sacrament of Eucharist, is
a powerful reminder that Christ died on the Cross to bring us to this renewal –
this newness as the new creation – for a fresh clean rightful start to walk
with God in the risen Christ, on the rightful path guided with Lumen Christi and later in another Parakletos after his Ascension, upon
Pentecost.
The Epistle Reading (Romans 6:3-11) reminds that
what died was not just Christ on the Cross but our old sinful selves. It means
that these 40 days on our Lenten journey, we walked with Christ to die,
crucifying our sinful past with him so that we can rejoice our new clean life
with Christ now within us.
Because He is merciful and His love is in faithful
observance of His covenants, God had always mended and restored what our sins
had damaged and destroyed, in the hope that we would retain pure clean heart
and become truly faithful as Abraham
was, as reflected from the Third Reading to the Seventh Reading. However, we
failed to appreciate this mercifulness and loving kindness of God, as we
continued to sin, turning away from Him. Then, God could have truly abandoned
us in our self-destruction with sins. But, because His mercy and loving
kindness endure, this time, God sent His Son to let him take the cup of
judgement in place of us. And it means that we also die with him to our sins,
crucifying our sinful selves with him on the Cross.
Now Christ’s resurrection is imminent, as the
sanctuary is fully lighted, while the Lumen
Christi continues to shine in the flame of the Paschal Candle. The darkness
of our past sins are now burned off.
So, as read in the Gospel Reading (Mark 16:1-8), an
angel in the figure of young man, proclaimed that Christ is risen to the women,
who came to the tomb to anoint the corpse of Christ in Jesus, early in the
morning after the sabbath. There was need to anoint the dead body as Christ is
no longer dead. And, the angel also relayed a command of the risen Christ to
these women to tell the rest of the disciples to meet him in Galilee. The risen
Christ invites us to meet him in where he started his public ministry 3 years before.
It means that we renew our commitment to our Baptismal call, affirmed with our
Confirmation, to serve as his disciples with love, as our lives are renewed
with Christ’s death and resurrection.
As this vigil night gives its way to a new day of the Resurrection, we begin our new journey with the risen Christ through Paschaltide to further prepare for Pentecost, being fully renewed, as we let our sinful past crucified.
Now we have concluded Sacred Paschal Triduum with
new light of the risen Christ, while us being renewed.
Hæc nox est, in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis, Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit!
Christ is risen! He has been raised from the dead!
Alleluia!
Surrexit Christus ortu stellam matutinam, lucifer matutinus!
*Note on Latin: "lucifer" is not to be confused with "Lucifer".
No comments:
Post a Comment