Alleluia!

ALLELUIA !

       It is difficult to point to any one particular moment as the climax of the Easter Vigil: there are so many wonderful ones! But they must certainly include the proclamation of the Easter “Alleluia” before the Gospel.

      Ever since Ash Wednesday, this word has not been heard in church at all. As it has always been associated with the joy of Easter, it is not heard during the entire penance-tide that is Lent.

     The Easter Alleluia has a special significance. It is not simply a cry of present joy. It is the foretaste of what heaven will be like. It helps us to look forward to our eternal destiny when we will share in the everlasting glory and joy of the general resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. For Easter is not to be seen merely as a memorial of an event that took place a long time ago; nor is it simply the end of a sad and terrible story of suffering and injustice inflicted on God’s only Son made man. It is rather the beginning of God’s final victory over sin and death—a victory in which we all have a stake and a share through our baptism.

     That is why we celebrate baptism above all at Easter, and why we renew our baptismal faith and promises at Mass on this Easter Day, being sprinkled afresh with the water which was blessed last night at the Vigil especially to confer the grace of holy baptism. When we were baptised, as St. Paul teaches us, we were first of all baptised into Christ’s death.

     This means that we became sharers in His death, just as we were already sharers in death through our first parents, Adam and Eve. Now Adam and Eve brought unending death on themselves and all their descendants by disobeying God and following the devil’s temptation. But Christ has transformed death into the gateway to eternal life. So baptism is also a share in Christ’s resurrection.

     And finally, what does the word “Alleluia” mean? It is a Hebrew word: “Praise be to God!” for all His wonderful deeds; for creation; for the gift of life; for the gift of Christ His Son, and for the hope of everlasting life which He gives us, and which this day, the greatest day of the year, brings to new life in our hearts and minds. 

    Together with Fr Michael, the deacons, Lionel and George, and the parish staff, I wish you and yours every blessing of the new life of our Resurrected Lord.            

                                                                                          ~   Fr Paul Dobson