E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 1
Ex-ult, let them ex-ult, the hosts of heav-en,
ex-ult, let A-ngel mi-nis-ters of God ex-ult,
let the trum-pet of sal-va-tion
sound a-loud our migh-ty Kings triumph!
Be glad, let earth be glad, as glo-ry floods her,
a-blaze with light from her e-ter-nal King,
let all cor-ners of the earth be glad,
know-ing an end to gloom and dark-ness.
Re-joice, let Mo-ther Church also re-joice,
Ar-rayed with the light-ning of his glo-ry,
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 2
let this ho-ly buil-ding shake with joy,
filled with the migh-ty voic-es of the peo-ples.
(Therefore, dearest friends,
standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,
invoke with me, I ask you,
the mercy of God almighty,
that he, who has been pleased to number me,
though unworthy, among the Levites,
may pour into me his light unshadowed,
that I may sing this candles perfect praises).
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 3
(V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.)
V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up to the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R. It is right and just.
It is truly right and just,
with ar-dent love of mind and heart
and with de-vo-ted ser-vice of our voice,
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 4
to ac-claim our God in-vi-si-ble, the al-migh-ty Fa-ther,
and Je-sus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his On-ly Be-got-ten.
Who for our sake paid A-dams debt to the e-ter-nal Fa-ther,
and, pour-ing out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the re-cord of our an-cient sin-ful-ness.
These then are the feasts of Pass-o-ver,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood a-noints the door-posts of be-lie-vers.
This is the night,
when once you led our fore-bears, Is-ra-els chil-dren,
from sla-ve-ry in E-gypt
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 5
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night
that with a pil-lar of fire
ba-nished the dark-ness of sin.
This is the night
that even now, through-out the world,
sets Chris-tian be-lie-vers a-part from world-ly vi-ces
and from the gloom of sin,
lead-ing them to grace
and joi-ning them to his ho-ly ones.
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 6
This is the night,
when Christ broke the pri-son-bars of death
and rose vic-to-ri-ous from the un-der-world.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been re-deemed.
O won-der of your hum-ble care for us!
O love, O cha-ri-ty be-yond all tel-ling,
to ran-som a slave you gave a-way your Son!
O tru-ly ne-ces-sa-ry sin of A-dam,
Des-troyed com-plete-ly by the Death of Christ!
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 7
O hap-py fault
that earned so great, so glo-ri-ous a Re-dee-mer!
O truly bles-sed night,
wor-thy a-lone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the un-der-world!
This is the night
of which it is writ-ten:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazz-ling is the night for me,
and full of glad-ness.
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 8
The sanc-ti-fy-ing po-wer of this night
dis-pels wic-ked-ness, wa-shes faults a-way,
res-tores in-no-cence to the fal-len, and joy to mour-ners,
drives out ha-tred, fos-ters con-cord, and brings down the mighty.
On this, your night of grace, O ho-ly Fa-ther,
Ac-cept this can-dle, a so-lemn of-fe-ring,
the work of bees and of your ser-vants hands,
an eve-ning sa-cri-fice of praise,
this gift from your most ho-ly Church.
But now we know the prais-es of this pil-lar,
E X U LT E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 9
which glo-wing fire ig-nites for Gods ho-nor,
a fire in-to ma-ny flames di-vi-ded,
yet ne-ver dimmed by sha-ring of its light,
for it is fed by mel-ting wax,
drawn out by mo-ther bees
to build a torch so pre-cious.
O tru-ly bles-sed night,
when things of heav-en are wed to those of earth,
and di-vine to the hu-man.
There-fore, O Lord,
we pray you that this can-dle,
E X U L T E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 10
hal-lowed to the ho-nor of your name,
may per-se-vere un-dimmed,
to o-ver-come the dark-ness of this night.
Re-ceive it as a plea-sing fra-grance,
and let it min-gle with the lights of heav-en.
May this flame be found still bur-ning
by the Mor-ning Star:
the one Mor-ning Star who ne-ver sets,
Christ your Son,
who, co-ming back from deaths do-main,
E X U L T E T 3 R D E D I T I O N O F T H E R O M A N M I S S A L | 11
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
