Angelus News | April 9, 2021 Vol 6 No 7

LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
All things new
“H
e who sat upon the
throne said, ‘Behold,
I make all things
new’ ” (Revelation 21:5).
And so he has!
We enter the Easter season
with new life won for us
through the sacraments. The
sacraments are as old as the
gospel, yet they are, like the
gospel, ever new.
We enter the season amid a
New Evangelization. Prepared
by St. Pope Paul VI, announced
by St. Pope John Paul II,
detailed beautifully by Pope
Benedict XVI, and now carried
forward by Pope Francis, the
Church is in a historic phase
that is comparable to the first
arrival of the gospel on America’s
shores — and perhaps the
first arrival of the gospel in the
Greco-Roman world.
We’re blessed to live in the
times we do, so soon after the
great era of liturgical reform.
Some people say the reform
began after the Second Vatican
Council in the 1960s. But it
actually predates the council
by a decade. It was in the
early 1950s that Pope Pius XII
restored the early Church’s
traditions for Holy Week, the
Triduum, and especially the
Easter Vigil.
The renewal of the liturgy continues in our own day, as
we have seen in recent years. The Church retrieves observances
from the Tradition, but not for antiquarian interest.
When we return to the sources of revelation — Scripture,
the liturgy, the witness of the saints — we see these ancient
things themselves made new for us, for our time, and for
our world.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem preached in the fourth century, but
his homilies are still renowned today. He’s best known for
the Easter sermons he delivered
to new converts. A profound
biblical theologian and a
warm pastor, he covered many
points of Christian life, from
morals to prayer to the creed.
But his
“St. Cyril of Jerusalem,”
by Francesco Bartolozzi,
19th century, Italian.
| WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
masterpiece
was
the grand
finale to
his series.
He ended
with a
stunning
explanation of the sacraments
of initiation. Step by step, he
led his listeners through the
rites of the Church, explaining
every word and symbol in light
of the Scriptures.
When those new members
of his congregation stepped
into the baptismal pool on the
Easter Vigil, they were stepping
decisively into the stream of salvation
history. The sacramental
moment had been foreshadowed
in the Old Testament and
fulfilled in the New. God had
willed it from the dawn of creation.
Christ had come, in the
fullness of time, to call these
men and women to the water,
to the anointing, to the banquet
— there to be made new.
St. Cyril was especially good
at his job. He excelled as a preacher and teacher, theologian,
and biblical scholar. He delivered his message with
the power of a poet. He was working with material that was
already “old” in the fourth century. Yet he was also working
with the Lord, who made all things new.
A fourth-century eyewitness testified that, when St. Cyril
preached the Easter mysteries, his church thundered with
applause. May the sacraments arrive this year with a freshness
for you and me — making all things new in our sight.
32 • ANGELUS • April 9, 2021