"This is the night..."

The moment that always touches me most deeply is the singing of the Exultet at the Dawn Eucharist (so-called from the words that begin it "Rejoice heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!").

Within it the repeated phrase "This is the night" is the most significant. "This is the night when of old you saved our fathers.This is the night when Jesus Christ vanquished hellThis is the night when all who believe in him are freed from sin."

advertisement In the light of the Paschal Candle we hear these phrases sung to evocative melismas, words that make important comment on time and what these liturgies of Holy Week are about.

The events of our salvation and of Christ's resurrection that we celebrate in Holy Week and come to a climax at the Dawn Eucharist are not quaintly remembered past events, they are present reality.

"This is the night" are the words that are sung - not "This was the night" - and the difference is deeply significant. In our procession on Palm Sunday, foot-washing on Maundy Thursday, vigil at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday, and gathering at dawn on Easter Day we are not engaged in a re-enactment of the past; these liturgical acts are as far removed from say the re-enactment of an historical battle as could possibly be.

This is not play-acting, this is the real thing. "This is the night".

The present tense of the Holy Week liturgies focuses all of time; past, present and future - now is the moment "This is the night" - the whole sweep of salvation history from the the crossing of the Red Sea, to Christ's resurrection, to the promise of our own resurrection is focussed in a powerful moment.

This is the moment of encounter and transformation.

"Christ is risen" is the great Easter cry. What was a past event is a present reality, to be experienced now, and a foretaste of a future hope.

"He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!"

Mark Bonney, Canon Treasurer