This evening’s Mass is the highlight of Holy Week and the highlight of the liturgical year. This evening, we commemorate Christ’s resurrection on Easter weekend.
The priest has up to seven first readings to choose from, with the priest mandated by the Church to include at least three. These readings span the trajectory of salvation history, These readings announce to us that God’s salvation continues to be accomplished in our present day.
We start our readings with the story of the Exodus from Egypt, of God securing the liberation of the Israelites through the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. Liberated from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites begin their journey through the desert as God’s chosen people, a passage from slavery to freedom. In the resurrection of Christ that we celebrate this evening at Mass, the passage we undertake is from death to new life, a connection to the promise and fulfillment that God made to the Israelites as they journeyed to the promised land. In the Exodus story, the passage was extended the people of Israel. In Christ and his resurrection, the passage is extended to all.
Our first reading from Isaiah this evening appeals to the faithfulness of God to his people, encompassing his steadfastness, mercy, loyalty, and love. Even when Israel wandered far from the path of faith, she is still to feel cherished and loved by God. The image of Noah and the flood reassures Israel that she will survive the disasters and calamities that befall her. God’s love will never leave his people. In the light of the paschal candle tonight, in the covenant God makes to us through his beloved son, this becomes our promise and our story too. We will be held in God’s steadfast love. In the chaos of our modern lives, this is an important message for us to hear today.
In our second reading from Isaiah this evening, God speaks to the people of Israel who are in exile, telling them to come to the living-giving waters of faith. God offers them the opportunity to return to their beloved city, to rebuild themselves up and to flourish once again. This is given to them freely. There is no price to pay. This is not something they have to earn. This is the mystery of salvation that we celebrate tonight through the paschal mystery, through Christ’s death and resurrection. We are invited to God’s grand banquet. We are to come to open hearts to God, just as we are to come with open and grateful hearts to the Eucharist, to the body and blood of Christ that nourishes us each time we come to Mass around the table to the Lord.
St Paul assures us tonight in his letter to the Romans, just as Christ died on the cross and was raised by the glory of the Father, so do we die with Christ in the waters of baptism and then are raised to new life in him. In a few moments, several adults will be brought into the faith through the waters of baptism, the culmination of a year’s long journey here at our parish. They will live in Christ in the new life they will receive in the waters of baptism. Paul tells us that we must commit ourselves to live for God in the new life we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The disciples who come to the tomb on Easter morning to pay honor and respect to Jesus find an empty tomb. They are greeted by the messages of the angel and by Christ himself. They are told to not be afraid, to share the message they have received with the other disciples. We have journeyed with Christ during the 40 days of Lent. Through our Lenten disciplines and devotions, we have accompanied Christ on his journey to the cross and the resurrection. For some of us, this journey through Lent may have been full of difficult challenges and struggles. For others, this Lenten journey may have been full of profound insights, edification, and enlightenment. No matter where we are in our journey of faith this evening, the light of Christ’s resurrection is there to illuminate our lives of faith. May we take the reality of life and what we have learned on our Lenten journey into this joyful season of Easter.
