I’ve been ordained a priest for over 10 years, and I keep experiencing firsts! This past Easter, for the first time, I sang the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil at the Visitation Monastery. If you are unfamiliar with this piece of the Vigil, put “Exsultet” into a search engine and listen to it. It takes approximately 10 minutes to chant acapella. When done well, it is a beautiful song that pivots the liturgical tone of the Easter Vigil from darkness to light, gloom to glory, and death to life. When done poorly, I always feared it would have the opposite effect.
I have many gifts but singing is not one of them. Prior to the Vigil, I met with the sacristan of the Visitation Monastery to practice the liturgy. I asked about the Exsultet, “Sister, what are we going to do about the Exsultet?” She simply replied, “You are going to sing it.” I didn’t need to respond because my answer was written clearly on my face. Sensing my hesitancy, she looked me in the eye and said, “It’s just us here.” She reached my heart, and I shifted my response, “Of course, I’ll sing it, it’s just us after all.” The closeness I felt in that moment gave me the courage to say yes.
“ The Lord is closer to us than we are to ourselves”
There is something so intimate about her phrase, “It’s just us here.” I now whisper this phrase throughout my day. It brings me closer, closer to the people around me, and closer to my God who is with me. I use it when I notice that same pit in my stomach. Addressing that same anxiety, Francis de Sales wrote, “God, whose very own you are.” We are God’s, it’s just us here. Closeness. Pope Benedict XVI made a similar insight when he spoke about God’s comforting, loving, and joyful presence on Guadete Sunday in 2011:
We should trust in Him; as St. Augustine says further, in the light of his own experience: the Lord is closer to us than we are to ourselves: “interior intimo meo et superior summo meo” (“higher than my highest and more inward than my innermost self”) (Confessions III, 6, 11).
Our Lord is closer to us than we are to ourselves. We are God’s very own. It’s just us here. Close.
I can report that the singing of the Exsultet went well. Aside from the Sisters, there were a few families who joined us for the Vigil. Afterward, one of them even said, “You sang beautifully.” Yes, I’ll share the truth since it’s just us here. The compliment came from my mom.
May God Be Praised!
Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
