Homily for the Easter Vigil 2019
It begins with fire… a spark is struck and an
explosion of light transfigures darkness…
It begins with a flame… courageous, strong,
held aloft and carried into a dark and empty space
It begins with light… a point of luminescence
that is shared and spreads without ever dimming or becoming less…
A light that is the light of all but kindled in
the heart of each and every person…
A light that the darkness now discovers it can
never overcome…
It begins with a cry an invocation of light
called with hope into a darkness that seems to be the death of all things
Lumen Christi we cry and we hold our flame
aloft…
Lumen Christi we cry before the forces of sin,
and darkness and death…
Lumen Christi we cry and we watch in awe as sin
is forgiven, darkness is swallowed by light and death touches life itself and
so becomes no more…
This is our faith and this is why we gather all
over this world on this holiest of nights to vigil from darkness to light, from
dusk to dawn, from death to life
Keeping our watch as a vast flaming tide of
faith catches fire and flows across the face of the earth as the people of God sing
the song of resurrection…
Tonight, we exult with joy over a victory, not
just promised but already given, as we see the ancient enemy thrown down and
the cosmos healed and renewed in the light of the Risen One stepping from His
tomb; his wounded and glorified feet gentle upon the soft grass of the garden
as Mother Earth thrills to know that the seed buried within her not three days
hence held within itself the gift of a new and eternal spring for all creation.
A new beginning for all that was, and all that
is and all that will be…
For from this moment all is new and the One
before whom the first seven days of creation unfolded in power and majesty is
now become the eighth day Himself, the beginning and the ending, the alpha and
the omega the origin and the completion of all things…
Now the great cry of resurrection is heard as
the call of the Good Shepherd to all of creation to come home to the house of
the Father!
The doors and gates of sin that we erected in
our error and pride have been knocked down and the empty Cross stands as the
key that gains us entry into Love for all eternity…
Now the lord Adam and the lady Eve and all
their generations are loosed from the limbo of the ages and hear their Son and
Lord call them home at last…
Now Peter is called from his tears to look into
the eyes of love and become the rock the foundation stone of faith…
Now the Apostles will be woken from their grief
and fear to become sparks of the flame of love that will over run the whole
world…
Now even Judas is looked upon in love if only
he can open his pride sealed eyes…
Now the mourning of the women will become the
joy of the comforted…
Now the faith of the Mother is fulfilled at
last and the Son embraces her in a moment so sacred so profound that even
angels are rendered silent before the sight…
And down the ages the flame comes….
The light born by saints and sinners alike for
only sinners can became saints…
The fire of Easter borne through days of joy
and days of sorrow, through days of peace and days of persecution, through
great and glad gatherings and lonely lives lived in isolation and pain…
In every succeeding age the great of this world
proclaim it quenched, the so called wise proclaim it stifled and lost, and yet
always, always, it rises again, renews itself again, and from the long banked
hearth it flames forth from One who can never die and whose five fiery coals kindle
the Church as the harvest of the world eternally governed not by earthly power
or wisdom but by the weakness and folly of the Cross…
The fire comes to us too who gather here this
night on the holy land of Ards…
It crackles beneath our feet and drums in the
heart of our being, gifted to us by Ancestors who saw their own story assume
meaning in His greater story, who found hope in His fire and love in His light…
It comes to us pure even of those who along the
way corrupted its cry of compassion and peace and hurt so many… and it comes to
us to use us to purify the past by becoming fire ourselves… by becoming places
of resurrection, tombs that become gardens liberating the Christ life to love
through us, with us, and in us the whole of creation and so reach out to the
wounded, the poor, the downtrodden, the abused that they might hear their own
hope sound anew in our Alleluias!
We saw this fire work its wonders this past
week when in a country where so many thought the faith dying if not dead already,
a burning building brought blessing… not in the flames that consumed a mere building
but in the sparks suddenly kindled by that sight that gathered a people and
brought them to their knees before their mother singing the hymns of their
ancestors and resolving to find again the faith that would raise to the Mother
of God such a tribute… The same fiery faith that sent a priest into the burning
nave to rescue the Blessed Sacrament and the ancient relics, remembrances of
His love for us and give a benediction to the city that burned hotter than any
earthly flame…
So do not doubt the power of this resurrection
flame… in every age it has burned and we are still dazzled by the light of
Easter dawn when even Brother Sun
dances with joy!
A Christian fears no doubt, no danger, no
darkness!
For all is aflame with love this night, and fire
dances over our heads as we sing our Alleluias to the Rising Son!
