Exultet

Because Easter is the Christian "Feast of Feasts," it is celebrated for fifty days. Nothing other than extended feasting can express the exuberant joy of Christ's resurrection. Texts from the Easter Vigil Exultet, the early hymn whose title means "to rejoice greatly" or "to leap upward for joy"
ring in my memory stirring up irrepressible hope.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes forever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Night truly blessed,
when heaven is wedded to earth
and we are reconciled to God!

The writer and poet, Wendell Berry, has written a kind of contemporary Exultet exhorting us to be daringly joyful! These few lines may move you to want to read the entire poem:

Expect the end of the world. Laugh….
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Practice resurrection!

A Blessed Easter!