The candle is brought to the priest who will bless it. He inscribes upon the candle a Cross; the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which reminds us that, Christ is the beginning and the end of all things. He also inscribes the figures indicating the current year, to remind us that this Year of Salvation, like all others, must be spent in following Christ.
The priest blesses the five Grains of Incense which are to be fixed on to the Cross cut into the candle, to remind us of the Five Wounds of Christ’s Passion and Death, visible even in his Glorified Body.
The priest enters the darkened Church with the lighted Candle held high as he sings “Christ our Light”.
The lighted candle will go before us just as the Pillar of Fire went before the Israelites at their liberation from the slavery of Egypt. We all stand, holding our lighted candles, to hear the Exultet, the great Easter song. Heaven and earth, the Church of God and especially ourselves here present, are summoned to rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ its promise of eternal life.
The service of the Word:
With the service of Light finished, but with the Light in our minds and hearts, we begin the service of the Word. It is concerned with Baptism, through which the new life won for us by Christ has been given to our souls. We prepare to celebrate Baptism and to renew our Baptismal Promises by reflecting on certain readings from Holy Scripture. In the litany we ask the saints in heaven to unite with our paschal joy, and to pray for us that we may ever remain true to the grace of Baptism.
The Water in the Font is Blessed.
As Christ descended into the grave and rose to newness of life, so now the Paschal Candle, the symbol of Christ, is put down into the Baptismal waters and raised up again. This reminds us that it is from Christ that these waters will have the power to impart newness of life to those who will rise from the font, on their Baptismal day, as new creatures freed from sin.
The Litanies are recited.
In the second part of the litanies we are reminded of the many reasons to have hope and confidence. Let us take special note of these invocations which run: “Through your Cross and Passion: through your Death and Burial: through your Holy Resurrection”.
At this, the first Mass of Easter,
we rejoice in a heroic act of the past that Jesus died for our sins. We rejoice in the present that through Baptism we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We look forward with certainty to the future when Christ will come again to lead us into the Eternal Kingdom of his Glory. That will be the final Passover, when all His Redemptive work will be finished. In this Mass He anticipated his Second Coming, by coming to us in Sacramental form, to give us a foretaste and pledge of our own resurrection to eternal glory.
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