Saturday April 16, 2022

THE EASTER VIGIL

 

Liberated and Living in the Covenant of Love

Tonight we celebrate the capital central event for Christianity: the libera­tion of God’s people from the slavery of sin, so that they can enter into the new and everlasting covenant whereby God, at his own initiative, binds his people to himself in a deep union of life and love. For God’s people in the Old Testament God saw the hardships they suffered in their slavery in Egypt, liberated them and made with them the covenant through Moses on Mount Sinai. For us Christians, God saw our slavery to sin and our inability to get rid of it. So he sent Jesus, his own Son, to make us free by his death on the cross on Mount Golgotha and by his resurrection. Now we are a free people, capable of love and service and justice. We celebrate this freedom and covenant this very night.

 

First Reading: Genesis 1:1–2:2

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

God spoke: “Light!”
        And light appeared.
    God saw that light was good
        and separated light from dark.
    God named the light Day,
        he named the dark Night.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day One.

God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
        separate water from water!”
    God made sky.
    He separated the water under sky
        from the water above sky.
    And there it was:
        he named sky the Heavens;
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Two.

God spoke: “Separate!
        Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
    Land, appear!”
        And there it was.
    God named the land Earth.
        He named the pooled water Ocean.
    God saw that it was good.

God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
        of seed-bearing plants,
    Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
        And there it was.
    Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
        all varieties,
    And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
        God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Three.

God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
        Shine in Heaven’s sky!
    Separate Day from Night.
        Mark seasons and days and years,
    Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
        And there it was.

God made two big lights, the larger
        to take charge of Day,
    The smaller to be in charge of Night;
        and he made the stars.
    God placed them in the heavenly sky
        to light up Earth
    And oversee Day and Night,
        to separate light and dark.
    God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Four.

God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
        Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
    God created the huge whales,
        all the swarm of life in the waters,
    And every kind and species of flying birds.
        God saw that it was good.
    God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
        Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Five.

God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
        cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
    And there it was:
        wild animals of every kind,
    Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
        God saw that it was good.

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
        reflecting our nature
    So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
        the birds in the air, the cattle,
    And, yes, Earth itself,
        and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
    God created human beings;
        he created them godlike,
    Reflecting God’s nature.
        He created them male and female.
    God blessed them:
        “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
    Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
        for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

Then God said, “I’ve given you
        every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
    And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
        given them to you for food.
    To all animals and all birds,
        everything that moves and breathes,
    I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
        And there it was.

God looked over everything he had made;
        it was so good, so very good!
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Six.

Heaven and Earth were finished,
    down to the last detail.

By the seventh day
        God had finished his work.

 

Second Reading: Romans 6:3-11

That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

 

Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles, but the apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up.

But Peter jumped to his feet and ran to the tomb. He stooped to look in and saw a few grave clothes, that’s all. He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.

 

Prayer

Lord, God of life,

you gather us around this table

to celebrate the Easter meal

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Accept with this bread and this wine

the prayers and offerings of your people.

Make our faith firm,

that your Son may continue

to live in us and to lead us to you,

our living and loving God for ever. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Wait in patience
The Liturgy of the Church wanted to make this day a time of silence, of meditation, of welcoming into our hearts the mystery of Jesus who died and who would rise again. Hence there is no celebration of the Eucharist today nor there is a Gospel for reflection! What we have is the Easter Vigil – which is already part of the celebration of Easter and we still have time to reflect on the Easter

The term ‘vigil’ refers to waiting… in anticipation of something to happen… waiting for the birth of a child; keeping watch of a dear one who is dying. But… Waiting is the last thing we want to talk about. We are living in a world of 5G internet connectivity, and instant coffee and instant noodles… We grow impatient even when internet signals is weak! Our age is characterized by impatience. We rush about our lives refusing to ever wait for things.

Holy Saturday teaches us of the value of patience and waiting. Imagine that Sabbath morning after a brutal killing during the Passover in Jerusalem. It appeared like a lost battle. As far as the disciples were concerned, there was nothing to hope for and no one to wait for.

In spite of this hopelessness, there was someone who anticipated something big to happen after that horrifying Friday – that was the Blessed Mother. She must have been sure that the life of the Son of God would not end on the Cross nor would it disappear in a tomb. She knew for sure that there would be an Easter and all she had to do was to patiently wait. This one day must have been the longest day in the life of Mary – in waiting. We don’t see her running to the tomb with the rest of the women on Easter Morning.

On the Holy Saturday, the Blessed Mother brings us the most important message for us: Be patient, It is just the beginning and not the end. How fast do we plunge into anxiety and despair when tragedies strike us? When faced with failures in life or rejection from family and people whom we considered most important to us? We look for immediate answers for our prayers and demand instant results. Remember the famous prayer: “Lord give me patience and give it to me right now!”

Let us be patient, the Lord hasn’t finished with us yet!

 

Video available on YouTube: Wait in patience