#exsultet

Adam lay y-bounden Bounden in a bond; Four thousand winter Thought he not too long; And all was for an apple An apple that he took, As clerks finder written In theire book.

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples. …

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father, and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel's children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night of which it is written: The night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.

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, and brings down the mighty.   On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God's honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

“Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

...This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld.

...This is the night of which it is written: The night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.

Easter Proclamation - Exsultet in Latin (English Translation) | Paschal Proclamation Traditional

Exsultet (Easter Night Chant) - English - Gregorian Chant - Light in Darkness

The Exsultet – named after its first word in Latin “Exsultet” which means “Rejoice” – is an ancient hymn of praise.

It has its origins in the 4th and 5th centuries in the churches of Spain, Italy and France, and was only slowly adopted into the liturgy of the Church of Rome. The text we use today seems to have been written at some time between the 5th and 7th centuries. Sometimes known as the Laus Cerei – the “praise for the candle” – it is a long prayer of blessing, most properly sung by a deacon or, if there is no deacon, the priest himself. In the modern Roman Rite, it has become known as the Praeconium Paschale – the “Easter proclamation.”

After exhorting all Creation and Mother Church to raise a song of praise, the Exsultet, takes the form of a Preface, such as is used in the Eucharistic liturgy. This sung prayer recounts the wonders of the saving work of Christ, whose new and risen light, shining in the darkness, the Paschal Candle itself represents.

Again and again, the prayer tells of Christ’s work, which comes to completion on this night of Easter, drawing much of its symbolism from the Old Testament. For “this is the night” when Christ paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father with his own blood. This is the night of the Passover, when Christ, the true Lamb, was slain to save Israel from slavery. This is the night when Christ, the pillar of fire, led his people through the Red Sea and the desert from slavery to freedom. This is the night when Adam’s fault won for the world so great a redeemer, when God gave his own Son to ransom a slave.