Easter Hymns - Communion Chant

Easter hymn

Night clearer than the day!
O night more luminous than the sun! O night whiter than the snow! giving more light than our torches, sweeter than Paradise!
O night that knows no darkness;
driving away our sleep,
you make us keep watch with the angels.
O night, the terror of the demons,
paschal night, awaited for a year!
The Church’s wedding night
which gives life to the newly baptised
and renders harmless the torpidity of the demon. Night in which the Heir
brings the heirs into eternity.

Asterius of Amasea


Canticle for the Easter vigil

Today we have contemplated upon the altar
our Lord Jesus Christ. . . Today we have heard his voice, powerful yet gentle, admonishing us:

This is the Body which burns up the thorns of sin and gives light to the souls of men. . .
This is the Body in whose presence
the daughter of the Canaanite was cured.
This is the Body, which, approached
in full confidence by the sinful woman,
set her free from the mire of sin.
This is the Body Thomas touched
and recognising, cried out:
my Lord and my God.
This is the Body, great and most high,
Which is the principle of our salvation.

One day he who is the Word
and our Life determined
that his blood should be poured out for us and offered for the forgiveness of our sins.

We have drunk of the blood
by which we have been redeemed, restored, instructed, given light.

Who is entitled to celebrate the mystery of grace? we have been found worthy to share in this gift. Let us keep it to the end that we may hear
from his holy and blessed voice:
“Come, O blessed, to my Father,
Receive the inheritance of the kingdom prepared for you”.

Then those who crucified the Lord will fear; those who have not believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be ashamed;
those who have denied and not borne witness to the most Holy Trinity, one God, will be lost.

As for us, beloved,
we celebrate the wonder of the baptism of Jesus, his holy and life-giving resurrection,
through which salvation has come to the world. We await the happy fulfilment of redemption
in the grace and love
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom is due all glory, honour and adoration.

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy


Preface for Easter

It is necessary, and for our well-being, to give you thanks God, Holy and Almighty,
to celebrate your praise with devotion, Father of glory, creator and author of the universe,
through your Son, Jesus Christ.
He, being God, full of majesty, humbled himself
to the point of accepting the punishment of the cross
for the salvation of men.
In the depth of ages
Abraham prefigured this in his son;
the people of Moses with the paschal lamb they immolated.
He it is of whom
announcement was made by the voice of the prophets:
he would take upon himself the sins of all men,
cancel out the whole of our misdeeds.
This is the great Pasch
which the blood of Christ has covered with glory,
making the Christian people exult with joyous devotion!
O mystery of grace!
Inexpressible mystery of divine munificence!
O festival most venerated among all festivals,
in which he abandoned himself to men
even unto death, to save mere slaves!
O blessed death, which has broken the chains of death!
Now the prince of hell is vanquished,
and we, saved from the abyss of guilt,
exult in joy and take with Christ once more
the road to heaven.

Ambrosian liturgy


Easter hymn

We glorify you, O Christ, singing: glory to the Lord! He was born of the Holy Spirit in order to give us life. He deigned to dwell among us.
To him we render our veneration,
crying out together: glory to the Lord!

Behold: the Virgin has given birth to Emmanuel. He has come down from heaven,
has saved fromEgypt a people that was lost. Let us exalt him, crying: glory to the Lord!

He has willed to overcome our enemy;
has made his dwelling in the Virgin Mary: the invisible has become visible in flesh.
Let us adore him, crying out: glory to the Lord!

Born of a woman ever virgin,
the Word of truth rose again for us. Let us celebrate the Lord, intoning: glory to the Lord!

Light from light, Christ our king
is risen for us.
He has saved us from theland ofEgypt; all together let us sing: glory to the Lord!

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy


Easter Hymn

It is the Pasch; the Pasch of the Lord. . .
O you, who are truly all in all! . . .
The joy, the honour, the food and the delight of every creature; .
through you the shadows of death have fled away,
and life is given to all,
the gates of heaven are flung open.
God becomes man
and man is raised up to the likeness of God.

O divine Pasch! . . .
O Pasch, light of new splendour . . .
The lamps of our souls will no more burn out. The flame of grace,
divine and spiritual,
burns in the body and soul,
nourished by the resurrection of Christ.

We beg you, O Christ, Lord God,
eternal king of the spiritual world, stretch out your protecting hands
over your holy Church
and over your holy people;
defend them, keep them, preserve them. . .

Raise up your standard over us
and grant that we may sing with Moses
the song of victory, .
for yours is the glory and the power for all eternity! Amen. .

Hippolytus of Rome


Paschal doxology

O Pasch, great and holy mystery that purifies the universe, I would speak to you Immortal Soul.
O Word of God, light and life, wisdom and power!
I greet you with your many names.
Illustrious shoot, breath and image of the Spirit!
O Word of God, visible being in whom all is assumed
and all governed by your power!
Deign to listen to my words: .
they are not the beginning
but certainly the fulfillment of my offering.
Grant that they may be both thanksgiving and supplication.
Grant that I may bear only the trials of the spirit
that bring the reward assigned to our life.
Lighten the weight of the body;
You know, O Lord, how heavily it weighs.
Mitigate the severity of your judgment,
when we come to be winnowed by you. ¬
But if our desires will be realised
grant that we may set out on our way and find welcome
in the heavenly mansions.
We will go on offering to you an acceptable sacrifice,
on your altar, Father, Word and Holy Spirit.
To you be the glory, the honour and the power through all ages. Amen.

Gregory Nazianzen



Communion chant

You, who once spoke to Moses
on mount Sinai,
have received from an immaculate Virgin flesh that is free from all sin.

You who once pastured Israel, now feed on the milk of a Mother who has not known man.
A marvellous happening!

You who once punished kings now save yourself from a king by flight intoEgypt.

You, seated in majesty [on a high throne] were laid in a manger
retaining all your dignity.

And now, full of faith,
we praise the Mother and sing to the Son.

He who in heaven is God and has no mother,
has descended to earth and lived as though motherless.

To you be the glory!

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy


Communion chant

Let us invoke Christ.
The sacred Body of Christ! The lamb of God,
the sacred Body of him who died for our salvation!

The sacred Body of him
who revealed the mystery of grace of the new covenant
to his disciples.

The sacred Body which washed with water
the feet of the apostles, and with the Spirit washed their souls.

The sacred Body which pardoned the penitent woman; the sacred Body whose blood makes us clean.

The sacred body which
received the kiss of betrayal; the sacred Body which loved the world so much
as to accept even death on a cross.

We bless and glorify your name.

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy


Communion chant

He has given them a heavenly bread
and man has eaten the bread of angels.
He has given them a heavenly bread
we have received a bread of blessing:
the Body of Christ and his precious Blood.
The Lord. . . then took the bread,
and a saving drink, the chalice of life.
We have received the holy bread.
Let us bless the Lord who has done great things on all the earth. All the people, praise the Lord,
exult with joy in the Lord, O you just:
you have received the Body and Blood of Christ.
We give you thanks, O Christ, our God,
because you have deigned to share with us
your Body and your Blood, O Saviour;
you have drawn to yourself our hearts. . .

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy


Communion chant

Your sacrament, Lord Jesus Christ,
gives life
and the remission of sins;
you have suffered the passion for our sake.

For us you have drunk gall to take from us all bitterness;

you have drunk a bitter wine for us to lift us from our weariness;

you have been despised for us,
that the dew of immortality might be poured upon us;

you have been beaten with scourges to ensure to our frailty eternal life;

you have been crowned with thorns that your faithful might be crowned with the evergreen laurels of love;

you have been wrapped in a winding sheet that we might be clothed in your strength;

you were laid in the tomb
that in a new age loving kindness might again be granted to us.

Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy