An Easter Prayer

by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

It is very meet and right, with all the powers of heart and mind, and with the service of the lips, to praise the invisible God, the Father Almighty, and His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the debt of Adam for us to the Eternal Father, and effaced the bond of the ancient guilt by the Blood poured forth in loving kindness. For this is the Paschal festival in which you first did bring our fathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, and made them to pass over the Red Sea dry-shod. This, then, is the night which cleared away the darkness of sin by a pillar of radiance. This is the night throughout the world which now restores to grace and unites to holiness believers in Christ, separated from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin. This is the night in which Christ broke the bonds of death and ascended from the grave, the Conqueror. For to be born had been no blessing to us, unless we could have been redeemed. Oh, the wondrous condescension of your loving kindness towards us! Oh, the inestimable tenderness of your love! To redeem the servant, you gave up your Son. This holy night, then, puts to flight offenses, washes away sins, and restores innocence to the fallen, and joyousness to the sad. Oh, truly blessed night, which spoiled the Egyptians and enriched the Hebrews–the night in which Heaven and earth are reconciled! We pray therefore, Lord, that you would preserve your servants in the peaceful enjoyment of this Easter happiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, now and forever. Amen.