So, with the Alleluia of victory, the triumphant cry of Easter on her lips, the Church renews the Paschal mystery in which death is conquered, the power of the devil is broken forever, and sins are forgiven: the mystery of the death and resurrection of the Savior who is born to us on this day. Today, the Church sings: Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis, which means: A day of salvation, a day sanctified by mystery, a day full of divine and sanctifying power, has shone upon us. And she continues: “Alleluia, Alleluia: A sanctified day has shone upon us: come you gentiles and adore the Lord: for this day a great light has descended upon the earth.” The Church summons all the world to adoration as she prepares with great solemnity to announce the words of the Gospel in her third Mass. This is the Prologue of John, in which with mighty power given him from God the greatest Evangelist proclaims that the Word, Who was in the beginning with God, is made flesh, and dwells among us full of grace and truth.
. . . let us open our eyes to the rising Sun, let us hasten to receive Him and let us come together to celebrate the great mystery of charity which is the sacrament of our salvation and of our union in Christ. Let us receive Christ that we may in all truth be “light in the Lord” and that Christ may shine not only to us, but through us, and that we may all bum together in the sweet light of His presence in the world: I mean His presence in us, for we are His Body and His Holy Church.
Thomas Merton, OCSO
Seasons of Celbration, pp. 103-104
