Dear Parishioners, Pilgrims, Guests and all those whose curiosity has led them to check out our parish bulletin:

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

For the 44 days of Lent, the church has been immersed in this penitential season with its traditional threefold disciplines of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Besides fasting from food, drink, and other amenities or habits, the church’s liturgy has fasted from the use of the word “Alleluia.”

Neither sung nor spoken, this joyful acclamation of praise has been entombed, as it were, throughout the season of Lent, (sometimes quite literally with an “Alleluia” Banner ceremoniously rolled up and placed in a small coffin) and was solemnly proclaimed at the Easter Vigil as if for the first time. What is there about this single word that demands such prominence in the worship life of the church?

We find this Hebrew acclamation in the Old Testament derived from two words; the verb halal (to praise or to break forth in joy) and Yahweh, the proper name ascribed to God, which is traditionally substituted with the word Adonai (Lord) out of a sense of profound respect for the divine presence. Taken together these two words can best be translated “Praise the Lord.”

We see “Alleluia” as a recurring word within many of the psalms. Psalms 113-118 are called the “Pesach Hallel” or the Passover Psalms. These are the psalms that are sung during the Seder Supper including the last Seder meal that Jesus celebrated with his disciples on the night before he died. These are the psalms that rejoice in the powerful deliverance that God enacted on behalf of the children of Israel when he liberated them from their bonds of slavery in Egypt. Similarly, Psalms 145-150, that conclude the Psalter, are named the “Final Hallel.” These are the psalms, replete with “Alleluias,” that conclude this collection of 150 prayers with an exuberant outburst of praise for the saving work that God has performed on behalf of his people.

“Alleluia” remains one of those words that is best left untranslated and preserved in its original language to highlight its inexhaustible meanings. It always says more than what a single rendering is able to convey. This is why some have likened its sound to the inarticulate utterance of ecstatic mystics or those who have experienced the numinous presence of God. It is perfectly suited, therefore, to be the quintessential word for Easter, our greatest Christian feast and most sublime mystery. It communicates a joy that could only have come from the hand of God, -- a joy that has no end.

This is why the word “Alleluia” has pride of place in our liturgical assemblies throughout the 50 days of Easter. It is why this word, more than any other taken from human speech, is able to express the deepest response that we mortal beings can make in light of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. May it be the word that rises from our hearts and spills forth from our lips not only in this time of Easter, but whenever and wherever we recognize the great mercy of God who has rescued us from unending death and brought us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia.

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