The Exsultet
Recessit Pastor Noster (1585) by Tomás Luis de la Victoria (1548–1611)
The crucifix pictured above uniquely interprets the last recorded encounter of the Blessed Mother and her Son, Jesus. Its Brazilian artist, Fr. Angel Vincente, created this crucifix in 1960 and gifted it to the Schoenstatt Shrine in Santiago, Chile. Due to the close union between Christ and Mary depicted on the image it received the name Unity Cross.
On this Good Friday, as we recall the Passion and Death of Jesus, we gaze upon the Cross. On the one hand, we recoil from the Cross in horror as the instrument of torture and execution, the gibbet on which the Savior of the world hung in agony and breathed his last. On the other hand, we rejoice in the Cross as the means by which Jesus Christ accomplished our salvation and the salvation of the who...
Today we enter the most solemn days of the liturgical year: the Sacred Paschal Triduum. From St. Peter’s in Rome to the humblest of parishes, the Church will watch and pray and sing together, recalling the wondrous mysteries of our salvation in Christ Jesus.
At the Name of Jesus; Tune: King’s Weston (1925) by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958); Text: Caroline M. Noel (1817–1877)
Throughout Holy Week, we will sing hymns and psalms once again that are often only used at this time of the liturgical year, and yet their impressions upon our hearts and souls will continue to deepen as they etch themselves into our liturgical memory. All Glory, Laud, and Honor. Pange Lingua Gloriosi. O Sacred Head Surrounded. Victimae Paschali Laudes.
“. . . a time to be silent, and a time to speak . . . ” (Eccl 3:7)
We live in a world that is too frequently noisy, replete with a cacophony of distracting sounds and sights. It is no wonder that we make recourse to the word “loud” to describe an obtrusively bright, flashy color or design, or even the many prominent figures within our culture who surround themselves by a whirlwind of activity an...
