Easter Praise: The Day of Resurrection has Dawned

There is a strange and powerful silence after the Lord Jesus cries out from the Cross, “It is finished.” There is a strange and powerful silence, for the Savior sleeps in death. No more words, no more sounds, no more teachings, no more healings: all that remains are the muffled sounds of the tears of the holy women. There is a strange and powerful silence from the afternoon of Good Friday and the whole of the hours of daylight on Holy Saturday.

But Easter dawns in the darkness. The light breaks forth in fire and lighted candles from the darkness of the tomb. And not only muffled cries of crying holy women, but the whole of creation breaks forth in symphonic praise. For Abraham, our father in faith, and Moses, the leader of the liberation for God’s holy people, the prophets and the martyrs, the saints and those who have suffered; for every voice of every time and place, for earth and sea and all her creatures break forth in praise and song and thanksgiving for the Savior is alive. The grave will not hold Him bound. The Passover of the Lord now becomes the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, and every voice in heaven and on earth will join in the song of victory.

Every voice will sing. Every voice will join the great symphony of all creation. Earth and sea and all her creatures will join in Easter praise for the day of resurrection has dawned. Every voice will take its part in the great song of heaven that Christ has brought to earth and that Christ has brought to us. It is the song of the victory of God, and every voice will sing. Except for one voice; one voice will not join the song. One voice cannot join the song of the victory of our God. One voice will fall forever silent, and we will hear only its faint echoes until it disappears forever in the final victory of Jesus Christ. Every voice will sing, but one, in praise of the resurrection. And what voice must fall silent? What voice will forever lose its power and its sound? What voice will only echo for a time until it is consumed completely by the great symphony of praise?

Death will have no voice; death will have no song to sing with the dawning of the resurrection. The voice of death and its power must fall silent before the Word of Eternal Life. Death will fall silent forever for Christ has claimed the victory over sin and over the grave and over death forever. Death will not sing our song of victory, but we will sing.

We will sing the song of victory. We will join in the symphony all creation. And not only on the day of Easter, but every time we gather for the celebration of the Eucharist, all creation sings in victory, and the voice of death falls silent. Every time we come to the Eucharist, we join in the song of the victory of our God. Here we join our voices to earth and sea and all her creatures, with those who have died in the faith, with the angels and archangels, with the thrones and dominions, with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven, and we will make our song forever, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!