Homily of Archbishop Dermot Clifford

at

Easter Vigil

March 26th 2005 

The Thurles Musical Society staged The Scarlet Pimpernel last week.  Many of the musicians and singers are also members of the Cathedral Choir and the Folk Group. You can imagine how busy they were during these past weeks, what with stage performances and rehearsals here in the Cathedral, and, not forgetting the day job! Their families found them as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel himself!

The orchestra opened the show as always with the overture.  This short musical piece set the mood and gave fleeting glimpses of what lay ahead. Does the Easter Vigil liturgy have anything resembling an overture?  Any preview of what lies ahead in the liturgy? Can you guess? Correct, the Exultet could be described as an overture.  It was sung immediately the Easter candle was lit.  It began with a three fold invitation to rejoice;

“Rejoice, heavenly powers!

Rejoice, O earth,

Rejoice O Mother Church,

Sound the trumpet of salvation!”

The stirring opening stanzas left us in no doubt about the mood of our celebration.  Let your joy be unconfined!  Pull out all the stops!  Let earth and heaven unite in Easter joy and cosmic renewal.  The Exultet has its origins in the prayer of blessing said when the lamps were lit at dusk in Jewish homes.

It is attributed to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (373-397 AD).  It has been sung on this night since the earliest times. One writer described it as, “this peerless masterpiece of the Christian lyric genius…“  St. Jerome, on the other hand, disapproved of the Exultet.  He thought it had too much attitude!  But, Jerome wasn’t shy in the attitude department himself!

The hymn sets out from the concrete signs and rites, the darkness, the fire, the water, the Paschal Candle and goes on to explain their deeper significance.  
The passage of the Chosen People through the Red Sea prefigures the saving waters of Baptism. The Baptism of Baby Ellen Catherine and Baby Emmett Francis is the next important part of our ceremony.  We will all renew our Baptismal promises together with the parents and godparents who will make the promises on behalf of the children.

“This is the night when Christians everywhere,

washed clean of sin

and freed from all defilement,

are restored to grace and grow together in holiness”.

Then to the Resurrection, the central mystery and the summit of all the Church’s liturgical celebrations; 

“This is the night when Jesus Christ

broke the chains of death

and rose triumphant from the grave”

Next comes one of the high-points of the Exultet, the verse which has caused controversy in the past and may still puzzle you. In the Middle Ages, it was omitted in cathedrals and monasteries because it was thought to be “too soft” on sin. The controversial lines:-

“O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,

which gained for us so great a Redeemer!”

A modern theologian observes, “O felix culpa, O happy fault!”  Boldness never again equalled in Christian thought!” But what authority lies behind this assertion?  The authority of St. Ambrose.  Referring to Adam’s sin he exclaimed, “Happy the ruin that was amended for the better.  The power of God is so great that it can use even sin for his glory and our good”.  Ambrose was leaning on an even greater authority, St. Paul, “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound”.  (Romans 5:20)

St. Julian of Norwich, commenting on this verse said, “Sin is inevitable but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” I bet you never heard the beginning of this well-known quotation before! “Sin is inevitable but all shall be well”.

Julian was more distressed than anyone by sin, but she observed that God permitted lapses among the faithful because such failures can lead through repentance to greater love and humility.  This is worth pondering on as we continue to grapple with the scandals which have caused and are still causing us so much grief, hurt and sadness.

Naturally, the climax of the Easter Vigil ceremonies is the Eucharist.  It could be said that everything in the Vigil is building up to the Eucharist.  The Easter Vigil Eucharist is the most solemn of the Church’s year.    The Exultet has anticipated that too.

“Heavenly Father in the joy of this night,

receive our evening sacrifice of praise

Your Church’s solemn offering”.

So, you will have gathered that the Exultet is, in a sense, an overture. But it is much more.  Rarely has God the Father’s unconditional love been hymned with such simplicity and conviction.

I said the hymn, “pulls out all the stops”.  But from start to finish it observes one restraint. There is one particular word which the Cantor never uttered. It is a word which appears “unchanged and unchangeable” in every language.  It is the Easter word.  While the Cantor didn’t actually either sing or say “Alleluia”, it was on the tip of his tongue!

"Rejoice, O Mother Church, 

Exult in glory;

The Risen Saviour shines upon you. 

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!”