At the Easter Vigil, Saturday evening after dark, we sing and listen to a song called the Easter Proclamation, also known as “Exsultet” based on the opening line: “Exult, let then exult, the hosts of heaven . . .”
This ancient, chanted poem tells us about a “blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to things of earth”. That blessed night was the night of our Lord’s resurrection; but it is also tonight, this night. It is the night “when Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld”. This happened because of God’s great love for us: “O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!” It happened so that we might be redeemed, be reconciled with God. It is interesting that the song refers to the sin of Adam (who represents the first people or simply represents us) as a “happy fault”. Why? Because “it earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”
This sacred event, which we remember and participate in, can inspire and transform us tonight, today, and every day: “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, blessed Easter! Mina Paakwan!
Fr. Paul Robson, SJ
