Tenebrae facta sunt.
Since midday on Good Friday, darkness had covered the earth. A most horrible shade of black, culminating with the death of Jesus Christ. It was an eerie reminder of the darkness Moses and the Israelites experienced on that first Passover. And how ironic (or, perhaps, providential) this Sabbath would also be another commemoration of that feast.
The only thing matching the gloom of this night would be the grief of the followers of this man from Galilee. Inside and out, they were engulfed in an unspeakable dread. But they only had to remember the details of the first Passover and what resulted from it. History, even in disguise, has a way of repeating.
The pillar of fire came to their aid. It does so once again. No matter how many of the readings are proclaimed at your Easter Vigil tonight, the Third Reading (Exodus 14:15-15:1) is mandatory. And we get a foretaste of it when the Pascal Candle is blessed, lit, and processed into the church.
"This is the night." You will hear this phrase seven times (five times as is and twice as "O truly blessed night") as the Exsultet is proclaimed at the end of this procession. Our pillar of fire as the People of God is Jesus Christ. Our exodus from sin and death is echoed in the recounting of the crossing of the Red Sea (as well as being the archetype of the Sacrament of Baptism).
Our redemption is here.
Our salvation is at hand.
Reclaim it as you renew your Baptismal Promises.
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