Mass. The church was
built in the late 1800’s; it has high vaulted ceilings, large stain glass
windows, dark wood pews. Even with the
all the church lights on, it is very dim inside. I am assisting as a deacon at the Mass; I
have been the responsibility of chanting the great Easter hymn, “the Exsultet,”
which takes about 9 minutes to chant.
And I really do not want to muck it up!
From the sacristy, I stand in the sanctuary of the church, and pray: “My
Risen Lord, be with me this night! All
good I am able to do to because of your grace; may your Spirit be within
me!” At that moment, I experience
something, I cannot describe; I am rooted in that place, and for a few seconds
I am not aware of what is happening around me.
The feeling passes and I go back into the sacristy.
The church has some fine vestments, for the evening Mass, I
put on a gold and white dalmatic, the deacon’s vestment. It feels stiff to me; I usually wear only an
alb and stole. The priests and the other
deacon, Michael, also vest. We then head
to the back of the church, as the lights begin to go out. By the time we are ready, the entire church
is in darkness. Father Mark lights a
fire in a brazier, by the light of that fire, he blesses the Easter Candle;
from the fire he draws a flame to light the Candle. The fire is extinguished, the only light that
pierces the darkness in the church, is the flame of the Easter Candle. Deacon Michael lifts the Candle, and he and I
walked down the main aisle. Deacon
Michael stops, lifts high the Candle; and I intone: “Lumen Christi!” The choir and the congregation respond: “Deo
Gratias!” Then from that one Candle, the
light is shared with dozens of other candles, points of light begins to spread
throughout the darken church. Twice we
stop, twice I chant “Lumen Christi,” twice the light is shared, until the
entire church is full of points of light.
The Easter Candle in placed in its stand, next to the pulpit.
I climb into the pulpit, open my binder, take
a deep breath, and sing out: “Exult, let them exult, the hosts of
heaven,….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.”
“Christ is Risen!” He
is Risen Indeed!”
