Easter

Brookline Carmel Bulletin J M J T

April 17, 1960

Cogitatio Sancta

(Holy Meditation)

Easter

The “Exultet” is one of the most magnificent songs of joy in the liturgy of Holy Mother Church. It is sung by the Deacon during the Easter Vigil service as he blesses the Paschal Candle. It expresses the joy of all Christians as they contemplate the risen Christ. We offer the following excerpts as material for meditation.

“Rejoice, you hosts of heaven, rejoice, all ministers of God! Let trumpets sound the triumph of the mighty King, for He has wrought salvation. Exult, O earth, made brilliant by such splendor, and illumined by the brightness of the eternal King, know that darkness has everywhere been overcome. Be glad, O Church our Mother, adorned with the radiance of so great a Light, and let your temple ring with the loud song of this great multitude. And you, beloved brethren, who are gathered near the brightness of this holy flame, invoke with me, I beg you, the mercy of almighty God…”

“Truly meet it is and just, with all our strength of mind and heart and with our voice as instrument, to praise the invisible Father almighty, and His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who paid to the eternal Father in our stead the debt of Adam, and with His own blood shed for love of us erased the ledger of ancient guilt. For this is that Easter feast in which the true Lamb is slain, whose blood hallows the doorposts of the faithful. This is the night in which thou of old didst lead our forefathers, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night which scattered the darkness of sin by means of the pillar of fire. This is the very night which delivers all who believe in Christ from worldly vice and from darkness of sin, which restores them to grace and makes them co-sharers with saints. This is the night in which Christ burst the bonds of death and came forth as Conqueror from the grave. For unless we had been redeemed, it would avail us nothing to be born. O wondrous condescension of the mercy toward us! O incomprehensible goodness of love: to redeem a slave thou didst deliver up a Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, which the death of Christ has blotted out! O happy fault, that merited to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the head! This is the night of which it is written: ‘The night shall be light as the day,’ and ‘Then shall my night be turned to day, in my rejoicing.’ For the holiness of this night drives out wickedness and washes away guilt; it restores innocence to the fallen and joy to the sorrowful. It banishes enmities, establishes peace, and brings low the pride of tyrants…”

“O truly blessed night, when Egypt was despoiled and Israel enriched! O night, when heaven is wedded to earth, and God to man. We pray thee, therefore, Lord: may this Candle consecrated to thine honor continue with undiminished light to dispel this night’s darkness. Receive it as a fragrant and pleasing offering, and let its light mingle with the lamps of heaven. May the Morning Star behold its flame – that Morning Star who knows no setting, who rose from hell and gently shines on man. In this festival of Easter joys, we beseech thee, therefore, Lord, for ourselves thy servants, for all the clergy and thy most devoted people, for our Holy Father, and for our Bishop: grant peace to our days; guide, govern and protect us by thy constant care. Look with favor, too, upon our rulers. Assist them with thy boundless love and gracious mercy; direct their hearts toward justice and peace, that after this life of earthly labors they may attain, together with all thy people, to the heavenly fatherland. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who is living and reigning with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.”

* * *

“Pour out the Spirit of Thy love into our hearts, O Lord, that those whom Thou has nourished with the Easter sacraments may through Thy love be of one mind and heart.” (Post communion of the Midnight Mass)

“This is the day which the Lord hath made: Let us be glad and rejoice therein!” (Psalm 117)

<<<home page

index>>>

* * * * * * * * * * *

MISSION STATEMENT: This web site was created for the purpose of completing the work of Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, O.C.D These conferences may be reproduced for private use only. Publication of this material is forbidden without permission of the Father Provincial for the Discalced Carmelites, Holy Hill, 1525 Carmel Rd., Hubertus, WI 53033-9770.