I know this is a little late, but we’re still in the Easter season, so (at least for me) I think that it’s important to reflect on the most sacred time in our Catholic Faith.
This was my first Holy Week as a priest, which was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Holy Week, from as early as I can remember, is one of my favorite times of the year (I guess if we are excluding Christmas)! As a seminarian it is an especially joyful and exciting time; being able to follow the bishop around and help serve at the different masses and liturgical services is really beautiful.
I had a tough Lent this year. Long hours sitting in the confessional, turmoil with some of my relationships and my ever-continuing battle with sin made for a desert journey of sorts through Lent. So I was looking forward to Holy Week to bring that crazy Lent to a close and rejoice with the Resurrection and the beautiful liturgies of Holy Week.
The day of the Easter Vigil, Holy Saturday, I spent the day with some good friends of mine before the Mass that would begin around 9pm. For some reason there was something that was just irking me all day long; something that made me feel anxious and unsettled. While I was with my friends I was irritated and anxious in a place which usually gives me peace and relaxation. As I was leaving my friends’ house, I recognized that it was simply the devil attempting to steal my peace and joy (which he was partially successful in doing). First I acknowledged that, then I tried to gear myself up to celebrate the Easter Vigil liturgy.
This lack of peace and anxiety continued well into the liturgy until I came to the point where I was to sing the Easter Proclamation (the Exsultet). The Exsultet is a long chanted song that beautifully recounts the great deeds of the Lord during the events of the His passion and Resurrection. As I was singing this ancient hymn, there was a beautiful, almost cathartic, movement within myself as I proclaimed the power of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, the King of Kings, and the conqueror of Death! My singing of that hymn was me telling the world, “I choose you Jesus Christ and I reject the lies and temptations of the evil One!” And I began to sing this song as a prayer:
“Let all corners of the earth be glad knowing an end to gloom and darkness (I can rejoice because Jesus has brought light and life to me)!”
“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 (Jesus wiped out the sin that would bring me to hell, and gave me a chance to choose him).”
“This is the night when Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld!”
Christ has already conquered the evil one, there is no battle left to fight but my choice to live and follow Him. Jesus conquered sin, broke its power over humanity and has given us an opportunity to live in His love. My singing the Exsultet was as if Jesus ripped the Devil’s dirty fingers off of my restless heart and pounded him with a sledge hammer straight back to Hell! I know that my Redeemer lives and that he has saved me from a miserable life as a slave to sin.
That is what this Easter Season is about. “Let the trumpet of Salvation sound aloud our Mighty King’s Triumph!”
A Voice in the Wilderness 