This great chant, like Easter night itself, "humbles earthly pride." While you read this entry, I invite you to listen to it below as it was sung at the "Anglican Use" parish church of Our Lady of the Atonement, where I attended the Vigil of Easter last Saturday night. In the Exultet, there are three main events of salvation history compared with their antitypes. g ra … I led you on your way on a pillar of cloud {he Shekinah}, but you led me to Pilate’s court. The Church tells us that belief and liturgy are tied up together: “The Church’s faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. He has been married for 45 years, and has four grown children, and 22 grandchildren. A thorough and compelling answer from Deacon Bill Ditewig: Recently, a good friend and a priest whom I respect very much, asked me just WHY the deacon Essentially, if it were not for the resurrection, all the other things that Jesus did and said, including his birth, would not be efficacious for our salvation. But in a way, it may also apply to the postlapsarian advantages accruing to the children of Adam and Eve.”11 St. Paul wrote: “Law came in to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5: 20-21). Carlos our dean would say, I elected to sing the Exultet (Easter Proclamation). Dr. Luckey and his wife are Lay Dominicans. Singing the Exultet is a proper function of a deacon although the priest may also do so. Historically, the Exultet was sung only once each year at the beginning of the Paschal (Easter) Vigil Service. I was asked to sing the Exultet on one week's notice in 2005. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:16-17). These would have been sung at the Last Supper by Jesus and his disciples.7 But, the focus of this great song is not on delivery from Egypt. ¶ Exsultet Either The minister sings the Introduction g Re joice, O Mo g Dark ness va ni shes for ev er! When we confess our sins, it is as if they were never committed; in the Exultet, things our disloyalty did to the Savior are forgotten. And then the deacon or priest or a cantor chants the great Easter Proclamation. .The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.” (Jn 1:4-5; 9). Each one of us is responsible for all of the things in Christ’s passion, so beautifully and poignantly illustrated in the poem. First, there is a positivist-historicist mentality which kind of tricked us into seeing the resurrection of Christ separately from his passion, and, then, his passion and death separately from his resurrection, and, both of these, separate from the sacraments. Hence, all revolves around his rising from the dead. The deacon singing the Exultet at Easter Vigil The Benedictine theologian of liturgy, Cyprian Vagaggini, points out that there are certain attitudes, surprisingly, within the church today, which have muddled the understanding of Easter. .” when the blood of the true Lamb saves the households of all believers; when the Israelites were led through the Red Sea; when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin (a clear symbol of the Paschal candle, and the pillar of fire which was the shekina or the glory of God accompanying the Israelites); when Christians are restored to grace; when Christ rose from the grave and broke the chains of death; when heaven is wedded to earth. In the reproaches, there are many more: I led you out of Egypt from slavery to freedom, but you led your savior to the cross. Why is the Catholic population decreasing in numbers? The Exultet is a very lengthy, yet beautiful proclamation of the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Care should be taken to avoid singing a hymnised version of the Exultet in its place. Christmas seems to have been made for children. In itself, it summarizes the mystery of our salvation to the extent we are able to know it. The radio played Christmas hymns, way in advance. What is the appropriate time for the reception of the Holy Oils? . Dr. William R. Luckey is Professor Emeritus and Scholar in Residence at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Blessing of New Easter Candle, Singing of the Exultet Responsorial Psalm. to keep HPR reaching clergy around the world. The great event in history is not the resurrection but, if you will, the incarnation of the Son of God. The Exsultet is a magnificent hymn of praise sung, by a deacon, before the paschal candle during the Easter Vigil in the Roman Rite of Mass. The people who were faithful to God, would be delivered from a much greater evil than Egyptian slavery, which came to an end in the death of the slave. I will give you a new heart, and place a new spirit within you {a type of the receiving of the Holy Spirit during Baptism}, taking from your bodies your stony hearts {referring to the stone tablets of the Law}, and giving you natural hearts (Ez 37: 23-27). Q. . Singing the “Exsultet” can be intimidating! The Exultet is a very lengthy, yet beautiful proclamation of the resurrection of Christ, resembling Haggadah, the great proclamation in the Jewish Pascal supper. exultet – Wiktionary. This is because it is a celebration of everything related to our salvation. Having emphasized to him all his life how evil sin is, it is quite provocative to hear the deacon or priest sing in the Exultet: O happy fault {referring to original sin}, O necessary sin of Adam, Easter Proclamation: Versions of the Exultet. Click HERE to play.. Rejoice, heavenly powers! It demonstrates that the Holy Spirit constantly works in his Church to reveal more and more “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8). Passover represented the deliverance of the Israelites, as well as the beginning of their formation into the People of God. It has the letters Α and Ω, to which Our Lord refers to himself in Rev 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” There are five large grains of incense in the candle inserted by the celebrant with the words: “By his holy and glorious wounds may Christ our Lord guard us and keep us.” The deacon then brings the lit candle into the darkened church, stops three times, saying: “Christ, Our Light.”. When the Paschal Candle is placed in its prominent candle stand in the church, the church’s lights are turned back on, the candle is incensed, and the deacon (or a priest, or a lay cantor if need be) intones one of the most evocative and poetic hymns of praise in all liturgy: the Easter Proclamation – also known as the Exsultet, named after the first word of the Latin original. The discovery that this was not the feast-of-feasts was a shock, met with disbelief; but it is true nevertheless. Second, there is the passage through the Red Sea. Start the New Year Right with a Spectacular Alleluia, “Homily — Feast of the Holy Family, Year B” • Father Valentine Young, OFM, Chasing the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, PDF Download • “Midnight Mass Musical Plan” (2020). . . As singing the Exsultet is the rightful role of the Deacon, it may also be sung by a priest or a cantor. g Christ has conquered! What if your deacon, priest, or cantor is not a professional musician? Also, in the Exult, there were some member of the congregation who were of the Jewish faith as one of the elect for Baptism was of the Jewish faith. It resembles the Haggadah , which was the great proclamation in the Jewish Pascal supper; part of the “Great Hallel” (Hallell from Hallelulia), which was the singing of Psalms 113-118 and 136. This recalled the vigil that God kept over the children of Israel on that last night in Egypt: “At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and firstborn of all the livestock, as well” (Ex 12:29). In the absence of a deacon, it may be sung by a priest or by a cantor. There is the all too prevalent attitude— seen in the Church of this author’s childhood, and among many more “traditionalist” Catholics—of an abstract and disembodied spiritualism. After the incarnation, the resurrection is but a simple episode.”1. There was midnight Mass, big Masses on television, presents and visiting with relatives the next day. Sing choirs of angels! A bit off topic (I apologize), but is it permissible for two cantors to sing the Exultet? Here is an opportunity to work closely with them. The The Pascal Candle is lit from a fire and processed by the deacon into a dark church. I opened the sea before you, but you have opened my side with a spear. However, in the new translation, it just didn’t seem to fit the musical annotations. It humbles earthly pride: singing the Exultet By deacon greg kandra Last year, I had my first experience scaling the Everest of liturgical chant, the Exultet . I planted you as my fairest vine, but you yielded only bitterness: when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink, and you pierced your Savior with a lance. This explains the lessons, all of which revolve around the theme of newness of life. The Exsultet (the opening word in Latin by which the proclamation is more commonly known) employs rich imagery to tell of the greatest events of our salvation story. For, I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, {and, here, the Easter liturgy is particularly important as shall be seen} she confesses the faith received from the apostles—whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi. It is celebrated at night, a practice restored by Pope Pius XII in 1951, because “it is rooted in the very nature of the events it commemorates.”2 The Christians took over the Jewish feast of Passover, which was celebrated at night. I gave you a royal scepter, but you gave me a crown of thorns. 2. There is something primordial and mystical about the experience. There is the creation, the saving of Noah and his family from the flood, the freeing of the Israelites from bondage, the promise to extend the descendants of Abraham to “all the nations,” the rescue of the Israelites at the Red Sea, and the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise to deliver them into the Promised Land.4. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public. Responsorial Psalm Responsorial Psalm. Log in. But, we human beings have betrayed him so much, such an enumeration of our sins and forgetfulness would also be time consuming. Since 1900. Sound the trumpet of salvation! But it is long and challenging, and needs to be proclaimed well if it is to be prayed well. The "Exultet" is an ancient hymn of the church, an Easter proclamation which recounts the saving acts of God in the Old and New Testaments. The second aspect is that of an anaphora, because it is a “blessing and oblation of light.”9 The proclamation goes through the basics of salvation history, but shows types of events in the Old Testament in the anti-types of Easter: “This is the night. For your sake I scourged your captors and their first-born sons, but you brought your scourges down on me. . Non-Clergy singing the Exultet on Easter Vigil. again this year after a two year hiatus. It is sung by Deacons but the ordinary minister for singing the proclamation of the Exaltat is the Priest. Christmas—at least the Christmases of this author—was a wonderful time. Meanwhile, let’s break it down and … The Magis Center for Catholic Spirituality, All references to the ceremonies of the Easter Vigil are taken from. America's foremost pastoral publication. The first is the form of a Gospel. It appeared to be wordy and seem to lose it’s impact as some of my brother deacons as well as some priests who proclaimed the Exultet this past Holy Saturday evening at the Easter Vigil. I bore you up with manna in the desert, but you struck me down and scourged me. Exult, all creation around God’s throne! The Benedictine theologian of liturgy, Cyprian Vagaggini, points out that there are certain attitudes, surprisingly, within the church today, which have muddled the understanding of Easter. 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