The Resurrection of the Lord - Hail thee, festival Day!
The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia! Surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia!
(Source: Unidentified)
Yesterday
the Lamb was slain and the door-posts were anointed (cf. Exodus 12) and
Egypt bewailed her firstborn, and the Destroyer passed us over, and the Seal
was dreadful and reverend, and we were walled in with the Precious Blood.
To-day we have clean escaped from Egypt and from Pharaoh; and there is none to
hinder us from keeping a Feast to the Lord our God—the Feast of our Departure;
or from celebrating that Feast, not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness,
but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (cf. 1 Corinthian 5: 8),
carrying with us nothing of ungodly and Egyptian leaven.
Yesterday
I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with
Him; to-day I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I
rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for
us—you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work
or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that
remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men,
slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let us offer ourselves,
the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the
Image what is made after the Image (cf. Genesis 1:26, 27). Let us
recognise our Dignity; let us honour our Archetype; let us know the power of
the Mystery, and for what Christ died.
Let us
become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become God’s for
His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He
might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be
rich (2 Corinthians 8:9); He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might
receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted
that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that
He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying
low in the Fall of sin. Let us give all, offer all,
to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us. But one can
give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake
all that He became for ours.
Haec dies quam Dominus: exsultemus, et laetemur in ea, Alleluia!
(This is the Day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it, Alleluia!) This text from Psalm 118 (117 in the Vulgate) recurs throughout the Liturgy of Easter. It is here sung by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, according to the arrangements of Byrd and Palestrina respectively.
Excerpt from J.S. Bach's Easter Oratorium, 1725
What beautiful Easter music! Such joy in it. Blessed Easter and thank you for linking up your post!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wishes!
Delete