“This very night shall be a night of vigil in honor of the Lord… for all generations” (Ex 12:42).
On this holy night, we celebrate the Easter Vigil—the first, or rather, the “mother” of all the vigils of the liturgical year. In it, as the *Exsultet* sings repeatedly, we retrace the journey of humanity, from creation to the culminating event of salvation: the death and resurrection of Christ. The light of the One who “rose from the dead: the first of all” (1
Cor 15:20) renders this memorable night—rightly considered the “heart” of the liturgical year—”bright as the day” (cf. Ps 138:12). On this night, the entire Church keeps vigil and meditates upon the significant stages of God’s saving intervention in the universe. 2. “A night of vigil in honor of the Lord.” The meaning of this solemn Easter Vigil—so rich in symbols accompanied by an extraordinary abundance of biblical texts—is twofold. On the one hand, it is a prayerful remembrance of the *mirabilia Dei*—the wondrous deeds of God—recalling the principal pages of Sacred Scripture: creation, the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the promise of the New Covenant.
On the other hand, this evocative vigil is a confident expectation of the full fulfillment of the ancient promises. The remembrance of God’s action culminates in the resurrection of Christ and projects itself toward the eschatological event of the *Parousia*. Thus, on this Easter night, we catch a glimpse of the dawn of the day that knows no end—the day of the Risen Christ, who inaugurates the new life: “a new heaven and a new earth”
