On this glorious day, I would like to share with you two things. First, a beautiful Easter hymn of which so few people are aware and that I know thanks to my Anglican heritage. The hymn is called "Hail Thee Festival Day." It is difficult to find a good version where you can hear the words and the glory and power of the organ music, but here is one of decent quality so that at least you may become familiar with it:
The second thing I would like to share with you is one last meditation from the aforementioned character:
Dawn springs at
last for the empty heart, setting free those bound in slavery to
themselves and their own sins chaining them in misery. Only one who
has tread the paths of self-servitude can understand what it means to
be gripped suddenly by the light, to be pierced to the heart with
truth and to dance with joy in the new day.
In that morning,
the soul leaps up to the Lord to praise Him with song and all
darkness has been banished. For the Lord has called each by name and
now they have heard His voice. Each soul listens in the radiant glow
of freedom and knows that he belongs to the Lord, that he is a
wondrous work of creation, and that the Lord thirsts for his love.
Fear may strike the
heart that first hears the sweet voice of love in his heart. Those
bound in sin and servitude and accustomed only to the voices that
drag them deeper in their misery do not know how to respond to such
love. The light of freedom seems as darkness to them and they prefer
to cling to their own misery rather than step forth on a path that
leads to the heavens, on a road that stretches beyond their knowledge
and understanding.
Yet somehow grace
is at work, converting everywhere resistant hearts bent on their own
destruction. Those most opposed to the light find themselves
suddenly wrapped in it, reveling in a freedom and joy they never knew
existed, tasting what one day will belong to them forever.
Somehow, too, each
soul becomes mystically one with the Risen Lord, receiving Him in the
most holy Sacrament. Lifted high above all creation, they themselves
shine with the same light.
Blessed be the Lord
who rose in glory that He might draw all men to Himself!
Blessed be the Lord
who lifts the darkness and sets the sinner free!
Blessed be the Lord
who has called me to be His poor unworthy servant!
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