Benedictio Cerei (II)

X. BLESSING OF THE CANDLE. It is fitting and just. Truly fitting and just it is, that the gates of the blessed night be opened at the foremost place by the present ministry, as if by a worthy key, so that the noble messenger of life may testify to the advent, so that by the merit of the herald the things to follow may be weighed, so that a venerable forerunner may lend credibility to the sacred mysteries. It is just that the flame manifest the proximity of the life-giving water, that the diversity of the elements come together in an unfamiliar peace, that the sacred fire show the remedies of the waters to be at hand, that it be recognized as not of nature but of redemption, that water and light are in concord. Let that celestial craftsman rejoice in his works, when he himself blesses what he bestows, when he ennobles by sacrament that which he brings forth from the origin of his secret. Let him understand, through the ministry of our tongue, the special distance he has granted us. Let whatever he has commanded to be more excellent in man than in other animals be enslaved to his praises, because the benefits of the best creator are manifest, and anger does not differ from piety, when he has both taught us the art of supplication and wishes to be appeased by his own gifts. For he himself fashioned man as a temple for himself by skillful providence: he himself lays open the inner chambers of our heart, cleared by holy instruction, unless they are blocked by foul internal contagion through the purpose of freedom.

Therefore it is clear to all the hidden things of the universe that the vital machine of the maker does not perish except through its own fault, since He both formed us for better things and showed by which paths salvation might be sought. For when He fashioned man from the earth, when the soil destined to live migrated into a form, when the decaying ground passed into a new countenance, when by the inbreathing of the spirit the fields were moved by His footsteps and the earth looked back upon its possessor from its own substance, drawn from its bosom, outstanding by an unexpected endowment, having what the mother, as it was thought, had not given, when it bore the glory ennobled through its offspring: there was imperfection if it did not arrange the path of its actions by its own right. Yet, Lord, the daily success of Your benefits surpasses the older gifts, and the ancient are overcome by the estimation of what follows. For that man, destined for perpetual life, that man made a citizen of heaven from the parent clay, was thrust down to his origin by voluntary error. And because, while it was permitted, he did not wish to follow better things, he lost the sublimity which, degenerating happily, he had received by the gift of the Creator, and, recalled to his lineage by the guide of fault, he wept in exile. Unless Your omnipotence, Lord, were to regenerate this lost one, what You had made could avail little, and unless a second birth, both in number and in prosperity, brought aid, the first, in which error gave birth to death, would not help.

Finally, there would be nothing that the earth contributed to our making unless water came to its aid: you have bestowed upon us the unique solace of this sacrament, that waters wash away the sins of the earth. Therefore let the type now withdraw, and let those who announced what was to come through images fall silent. In truth we hold whatever the colored shadow of the law had promised. It is the time when our bodies or souls are dedicated to Christ the redeemer with a holiday sword, when salvation is not sought through wounds, when the priest’s right hand abjures the work of a gladiator, when faith fulfills consecration, water the seal, when the source leads back the human race to where it fell. In this office, therefore, of the night to be revered, we consign to you, Lord, a torch compacted of venerable elements, in which the union of three gifts will first please from an uneven number, which it is not uncertain comes freely to God from its authors: one, that from the offspring of rivers the nourishment of flames is supplied; another, that the undefiled fertility of bees bestows, in whose births virginity suffers no loss; fire also infused from heaven is added. For the redeemer dedicated waters by his own baptism: he loves the integrity which he preserved even in being born from his mother; so that he could be seen by a prophet, he took on a body of fire, when with leaves crackling in a bush the shrub felt no loss, when dry fodder for flames, while being licked, did not become wood.

Therefore it is proper to you, Lord, whatever in this candle the obedience of your servants has prepared. Look with serene eyes upon what heaven has bestowed, the chaste waters. Summoned by the ministry of human speech, descend to bestow the blessing. At the time of your resurrection, when the infancy of the reviving year flourishes, let the portion taken from this candle fight against storms and all assaults, so that, with the safety of our priest and all his clergy granted, you may grant abundance of the lands together with innocence of deeds and prosperity.