In those days: the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host. And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen. And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left: And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians. And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant. (Exodus 14, 24 -51 1, the Second Prophecy of the Vigil of Pentecost.)
Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously honored: the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea: He has become my helper and protector unto salvation. V. He is my God, and I will honor Him: the God of my father, and I will extol Him. V. He is the Lord that destroys wars: the Lord is His Name. (The Tract that follows, Exodus 15, 1-2; both sung in Latin in the video below, taken at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome at the vigil of Pentecost last year.)
Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the New Testament hast laid open the miracles accomplished in former times, so that the Red Sea should be an image of the sacred font, and the people delivered from servitude in Egypt, should show forth the mysteries of the Christian people: grant that all nations, having obtained the privilege of Israel by the merit of faith, may be reborn by sharing in Thy Spirit. Through our Lord...
