An Easter Greeting

Latin: O vere beata nox, quae exspoliavit Aegyptos, ditavit Hebraeos nox, in qua terrenis caelestia, humanis divina iunguntur!
English: O truly blessed night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews. A night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man.

Wishing a very Blessed Easter to one and all! Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus, et laetemur in ea. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it.


Psalmus 42 Note: This is what is sung in the Exultet of the 1962 Missal. The 1975 Missal onwards omits "quae exspoliavit Aegyptos, ditavit Hebraeos nox". One can argue that " O truly blessed night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man" makes more literal sense than "O truly blessed night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews. A night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man". Both verses refer directly to the salvific power resurrection. Yet the Old Testament prefigures the New, and in this instance the Escape from Egypt prefigures the Resurrection of Christ. In this way the 1962 Exultet does aid in unlocking a link between the Old and New Testaments.

Now, whatever is included in the liturgy, has a basis in the Sacred Tradition of the Church, be it in the Oral or Written Tradition. With reference just the Written Tradition then, whatever one reads, one has to be especially attentive to the 'content and unity' of the whole Scripture (CCC112). Taken out of the context of Scripture, a lot of things in the liturgy do not make any sense at all. Things are only made worse the poor translation of the liturgy that one has to endure for the Missal of Paul VI, but I digress. There have been many comments that the Missal of Paul VI has been enriched by the inclusion of many more verses from Sacred Scripture for the readings, psalm and gospel, but here is an instance of of the opposite effect.

Further in the entire context of the liturgy for the Resurrection, its not that hard to remember that 'salvation comes from the Jews' from "O truly blessed night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews. A night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man." Unfortunately most Catholics do not here this anymore. What make matters worse is that they hear "Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God". Hmm... heaven and earth are wedded, so they are united; but man reconciled with God, is just well reestablishing a close relationship.

"O truly blessed night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man!" is quite different. Heaven is united to Earth and God is united to man. Man's dignity in the image and likeness of God is not only restored, he becomes an heir to the Kingdom. The is much deeper meaning to be found by keeping closer to the Latin is called for by Liturgiam Authenticam.

Yet back to "O truly blessed night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews. A night, in which heaven is united to earth, and God to man." Is it too much to ask that the rich treasures that have been handed down to us be recovered?