The National Catholic Reporter agrees with me

Well this is awkward...

In 2011, the new English Translation of the Roman Missal became official, including a new translation of the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil.  Notable among the changes in the Exsultet was a reference to the Easter Candle made of wax, "the work of bees".

But 2011 was, after all, only five years ago and it's entirely inappropriate to expect people to actually implement something as radical as changing the Exsultet in such a short period of time.  So our humble parish, away from civilization, out in the boonies, with no access to electricity or fancy book-learning, continues with the old, non-apiary focused Exultset.  Apparently no one knows the music to the new expanded version.  All of our hymns were published by OCP in the 1990s, so that's understandable.  But if only some clever person would figure out how to record music so it could be played back as an aid to learning it.

But every spring, the promise of baseball, greening of the leaves and the buzzing of the insects warms the cockles of my cold black, pharisaical, throw-away, pre-Vatican heart and I long to hear about the beautiful bees in the Exsultet.  And every year I am disappointed.

Now, even the National Catholic Reporter is praising the bees.  The emphasis on environmentalism is a bit stretched, to my mind.  But since my parish and diocese regularly reads NcR perhaps next year will be different.