April 15, 2017
Holy
Saturday
The
liturgy teaches us to meditate on the word of God by giving us examples of
meditation. One of the most all-inclusive meditations on the mystery and gift
of the death and resurrection of Jesus is the Exsultet or “Easter Proclamation.”
First
the presiding priest lights the Easter candle from the new fire that was
kindled in darkness at the doors of the church as a symbol of the new light
Jesus brought into the world. He prays in the name of all: “May the light of
Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.” The
victory of Christ is a victory of Truth over error. His light is the “light of
life.”
God’s
word is a light to “walk in.” We reflect on God’s word as disciples to find in it a “way of life.” This Light is
indistinguishable from the Life of Christ, and it is only “in Christ” as
sharers in his divine life by grace, that we can see and understand: “For with
you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.”
The
priest or deacon processes through the church, carrying the Easter candle.
Three times he stops, lifts the candle high, and sings, “Christ our Light!” The
people respond,” Thanks be to God!” This is a proclamation of faith and
commitment that affirms our identity
as Christians. We are the people who have chosen the light of Christ to be our
light rather than the darkness of human culture. We recognize his teaching as a
gift. We are grateful for it.
The “gift of the Holy Spirit” we associate with Baptism is Understanding. The “fruit of the Spirit”
is Joy. This is the Light that is
Life.
Easter Joy
The first theme of the Exsultet
is “Rejoice!”
Rejoice,
heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God’s
throne. Jesus Christ, our King, is risen.
Rejoice
O earth… glory fills you…
Because Christ “has risen… has conquered… darkness vanishes
forever.”
Rejoice
O Mother Church! Exult in glory…. Let this place resound with joy.
If we cannot resonate with that, we have not heard the Good News.
We need to immerse ourselves in discipleship, absorbing the message of the
Gospel.
The Exsultet now
summarizes what the Good News is. It concentrates our attention on the
five basic mysteries. promises and
commitments of Baptism.
A new
identity
Christians
everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to
grace….
This is the mystery that includes all others: our transformation from slaves of sin into
free children of the Father through the new
identity that is ours. By incorporation into his body on the cross, dying
and rising in him, we have “become Christ.”
Christ
has ransomed us with his blood and paid the price of Adam’s sin…
A price, not of punishment due, but of ransom from servitude to
“the world, the flesh and the devil.” Because “Christ, the true Lamb is slain,”
we died in him, our sins were annihilated, and we rose as his body, a “new
creation,” blessed with the very “holiness of God.”
Enlightenment
This
is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.
The mystery of this transformation is that we are now the “light
of the world.” We enjoy the enlightenment
promised to those who commit themselves as disciples,
students of the word of God.
If you continue in my word, you are
truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free.”
Power in the
Spirit
Freedom has a purpose. The delivered have a destiny.
You
freed the people of Israel from their slavery and led them dry-shod through the
sea.
The Red Sea was a symbol and preview Baptism. By passing through
its waters the Chosen People were freed from subjection to the laws of Egypt in
order to reveal to the world the radical freedom of those who know the
One Commandment:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God,
the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your might.
Him only shall you fear; him only shall you serve. “Do not follow
any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you,”
We who passed through the water of Baptism were freed from slavery
to any authority but God’s. We obey human laws with the “freedom of the
children of God, in “singleness of heart,” with undivided loyalty to God,
obeying not “in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will
of God from the heart.”
To accept this freedom is to renounce slavery to our culture. We
don’t conform to what is expected in our society. We don’t “follow any of the
gods of the peoples who are all around us.” We don’t assume their attitudes. We
don’t embrace their values. We are different. In Baptism we were consecrated as
prophets, “anointed” with the “power
of the Spirit.”
This
is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant
from the grave.
To be a “prophet” is to profess the faith through a lifestyle that
doesn’t make sense without it: one that cannot be explained except through the
Light and Life of the risen Jesus present and active within us, sweeping aside
darkness and fear of death. This is the core of Christian witness.
Posterity
This
is our Passover feast, when Christ, the true Lamb is slain whose blood
consecrates the homes of all believers….
We are sanctified as a community. It is not just our hearts, but
our homes that are consecrated.
