Our
liturgy this evening began in darkness. The
darkness of this evening represents all the darkness in the world, all the
darkness in the universe, all the darkness in our human hearts. But
there is power and hope in the darkness. In
the darkness of this evening, a light is struck. The
darkness is broken by Christ the light.
The
symbolism of a light in the midst of darkness speaks to us today at our Easter
Vigil mass. As
the Easter fire spread throughout our community with the lighting of our
individual candles, as the Easter proclamation is sung while the Paschal candle
came front and center in the church, we saw how the light of Christ enters our
lives and enters our world. The
light that God sends into the world is present in different ways that we hear in our readings tonight. God
sent his light into the world when he created it. God
lit the way for the people of Israel to be liberated from slavery and
oppression. God
sends us life giving water to refresh us and bring us new life through the
message of the prophet Isaiah and through the passion, death, and resurrection
of his Son.
Tonight, we celebrate the Easter mysteries in a special way. Not only do all of us renew our baptismal promises, but we celebrate the baptism and entry
into our Church of our two catechumens Mark and Lee. We celebrate 3 adult Catholics who are being
confirmed tonight and 5 Christians from other denominations who are entering
into full communion in our Catholic faith.
And we celebrate first Holy Communion with a group of children and an
adult. This is an exciting evening for
all of us as we celebrate our Catholic faith and the resurrection of our Lord.
From
the beginning of time, human beings have searched for meaning and have searched for something greater than themselves. The
search can bring us some wonderful, unexpected joys in our lives. But, unfortunately, that search can also lead
us to some dark, foreboding places as well. Tonight, we know that this search that we undertake as Catholics is to lead us to
only one place: to the salvation, redemption, and new life that we have in our
Lord. The
saints have accompanied us on our journey this evening and we invoke their
presence through the litany of saints. The
saints are here in their prayers and intercessions, uniting with us
around the Table of the Lord on this joyful night. With
us tonight are saints who accompanied Jesus during his earthly journey – John
the Baptist, Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and Mary of Magdala. With
us tonight are saints who were preachers of the word: Paul, Francis of Assisi,
and Pope John XXIII. With
us tonight are holy men and women who lived their faith in the reality of
their world: Teresa of Avila, Benedict, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. We
unite our prayers with those of the saints and we ask for their continued help
on our journey.
The
Easter Vigil mass fills our hearts with joy tonight with the
light of the paschal candle, the smell of the incense and the sounds of the
bells, the joyful Easter hymns sung by the choir, and the Gospel message of
Christ’s resurrection, of the ladies who come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body
only to find the tomb empty. The
stone has been rolled back from the entrance to the tomb. Jesus has risen! May
the joy of the Easter season that fills our hearts help us remove those stone
that are holding us down. But
tonight is not an end. As we continue
our journey through the Easter season in the upcoming weeks, may we continue to
allow the Easter mysteries to convert our heart and live in our daily
lives.
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