The Easter
Vigil, as part of its readings from the Old Testament, must always include the
reading of the Exodus. This is because the Exodus is the greatest type of the
Resurrection of Christ. It may be called the central mystery of the Old
Testament, just as the Resurrection is the central mystery of the New. As we have already said this week, the Exodus gave the Jewish people of the Old Testament their central understanding of God, namely as Savior of His people. There is little more we can examine during this week, but we have yet to consider the Israelites after the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, when Israel sang the great canticle to the Lord.
Although the text itself is long, let us not refrain from reproducing it:
"Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
'I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
"'Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea; and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods cover them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, thy right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
In the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrowest thy adversaries; thou sendest forth thy fury, it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of thy nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
"'Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
"'Thou hast led in thy steadfast love the people whom thou hast redeemed, thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy abode.
The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philisitia.
Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of thy arm, they are as still as a stone,
till thy people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom thou hast purchased.
Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them on thy own mountain, the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thy abode, the sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established.
The LORD will reign for ever and ever (Exodus 15:1-18).'"
We read in this text a clear feeling of rejoicing; one cannot help but pray these words with a feeling of triumphant joy. And, of course, these words are both an excellent prayer not only for the newly baptized Neophytes, but also for us who have just renewed our Baptismal Promises. The Lord Jesus has conquered for us! He is truly our strength and salvation, for not by any work of ours were we freed from sin, but purely by the grace of our God, for as St. Paul says, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. . . . We . . . rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation (Romans 5:8, 11)." He trampled Death underfoot and has emerged victorious, leading us as He goes!
But the glories of the Lord Jesus should be sung even further, for it was by the very craft of the enemy himself that Jesus defeated him. As was sung on Good Friday during the Veneration of the Cross, "Thus the tempter was outwitted by a wisdom deeper still: remedy and ailment fitted, means to cure and means to kill (Crux Fidelis)." Satan conquered mankind through the fruit of a tree, yet it was and is as fruit of a tree that Christ gives life back to the world, for all who partake of Christ's Body and Blood, given from the Cross, are raised to eternal life! The greatest weapon of the devil was to kill Jesus Christ, the Righteous One Who was undermining His works on earth, yet by having Him killed, Satan accomplished our own salvation. The demons were destroyed in their pride as the Faithful of Christ rejoice at the victory and sing alleluia!
There are no gods like our God in all of history. The Pagan religions speak of great wars between the gods, titanomachies, but in the end the enemy is only imprisoned, perhaps to escape once again and make war, or still survives. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, however, God is God and the other gods are not. They cannot in any way compare to our God; He triumphs over them simply by the power of His will! Satan, who is not a god but a created being of God, once defeated is defeated for all time!
And has not this message gone out to all the earth? Let us recall the ancient Roman Empire; though Christianity was at first persecuted within the Empire, it ended up conquering the world through this Empire! In our own day, in the lands of Asia, where the Faith is persecuted, it thrives! The very enemies of the Church cringe at its might in the depth of their hearts, for they know that God is an All-Powerful Conqueror. Though Satan wages war against the Church, "he knows that his time is short! (Revelation 12:12)" As he was once cast out of Heaven, and as Death has already been cast down, so at the end of the world, once all of the Faithful have entered the glories of Heaven and the Kingdom of God is fully ushered into the world, so shall these ancient foes be finally and definitively abolished and cast into Hell for all eternity! Then the Lord our God shall reign for ever and ever, and we, who have been brought out of the sorrows of this world with joy and shouts of rejoicing, will eternally sing, "Alleluia!" to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity!
Although the text itself is long, let us not refrain from reproducing it:
"Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
'I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
"'Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea; and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods cover them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, thy right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
In the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrowest thy adversaries; thou sendest forth thy fury, it consumes them like stubble.
At the blast of thy nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
"'Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
"'Thou hast led in thy steadfast love the people whom thou hast redeemed, thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy abode.
The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philisitia.
Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of thy arm, they are as still as a stone,
till thy people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom thou hast purchased.
Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them on thy own mountain, the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thy abode, the sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established.
The LORD will reign for ever and ever (Exodus 15:1-18).'"
We read in this text a clear feeling of rejoicing; one cannot help but pray these words with a feeling of triumphant joy. And, of course, these words are both an excellent prayer not only for the newly baptized Neophytes, but also for us who have just renewed our Baptismal Promises. The Lord Jesus has conquered for us! He is truly our strength and salvation, for not by any work of ours were we freed from sin, but purely by the grace of our God, for as St. Paul says, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. . . . We . . . rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation (Romans 5:8, 11)." He trampled Death underfoot and has emerged victorious, leading us as He goes!
But the glories of the Lord Jesus should be sung even further, for it was by the very craft of the enemy himself that Jesus defeated him. As was sung on Good Friday during the Veneration of the Cross, "Thus the tempter was outwitted by a wisdom deeper still: remedy and ailment fitted, means to cure and means to kill (Crux Fidelis)." Satan conquered mankind through the fruit of a tree, yet it was and is as fruit of a tree that Christ gives life back to the world, for all who partake of Christ's Body and Blood, given from the Cross, are raised to eternal life! The greatest weapon of the devil was to kill Jesus Christ, the Righteous One Who was undermining His works on earth, yet by having Him killed, Satan accomplished our own salvation. The demons were destroyed in their pride as the Faithful of Christ rejoice at the victory and sing alleluia!
There are no gods like our God in all of history. The Pagan religions speak of great wars between the gods, titanomachies, but in the end the enemy is only imprisoned, perhaps to escape once again and make war, or still survives. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, however, God is God and the other gods are not. They cannot in any way compare to our God; He triumphs over them simply by the power of His will! Satan, who is not a god but a created being of God, once defeated is defeated for all time!
And has not this message gone out to all the earth? Let us recall the ancient Roman Empire; though Christianity was at first persecuted within the Empire, it ended up conquering the world through this Empire! In our own day, in the lands of Asia, where the Faith is persecuted, it thrives! The very enemies of the Church cringe at its might in the depth of their hearts, for they know that God is an All-Powerful Conqueror. Though Satan wages war against the Church, "he knows that his time is short! (Revelation 12:12)" As he was once cast out of Heaven, and as Death has already been cast down, so at the end of the world, once all of the Faithful have entered the glories of Heaven and the Kingdom of God is fully ushered into the world, so shall these ancient foes be finally and definitively abolished and cast into Hell for all eternity! Then the Lord our God shall reign for ever and ever, and we, who have been brought out of the sorrows of this world with joy and shouts of rejoicing, will eternally sing, "Alleluia!" to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity!
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