ALLELUIA !

Here are some words Pope John Paul II preached at the Easter Vigil in 2004. “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” These words of the two men dressed “in dazzling apparel” rekindle the hope of the women who had rushed to the tomb at the break of dawn. They had experienced the tragic events culminating in Christ’s crucifixion on Calvary; they had felt the sadness and the confusion. In the hour of trial, however, they had not abandoned their Lord. They go secretly to the place where Jesus was buried in order to see Him again and embrace Him one last time. They are moved by love, that same love that led them to follow Him through the byways of Galilee and Judea, all the way to Calvary.

     “What blessed women! They did not yet know that this was the dawn of the most important day of history. They could not have known that they, they themselves, would be the first witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb” So narrates the evangelist Luke, adding that, “when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus”. In one brief moment, everything changes. Jesus “is not here, but has risen”.

     This announcement, which changed the sadness of these pious women into joy, re-echoes with changeless eloquence throughout the Church in the celebration of this Easter Vigil. A singular Vigil of a singular night. A Vigil, the mother of all vigils, during which the whole Church waits at the tomb of the Messiah, sacrificed on the Cross. The Church waits and prays, listening again to the Scriptures that retraces the whole of salvation history. But on this night, it is not darkness that dominates but the blinding brightness of a sudden light that breaks through with the starling news of the Lord’s Resurrection. Our waiting and our prayer then become a song of joy: “Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum . . . Exult, O chorus of Angels!” The perspective of history is completely turned around: death gives way to life, a life that dies no more.

     In the Easter Preface we sing that Christ “by dying destroyed our death, by rising restored our life”. This is the truth that we proclaim with our words, but above all with our lives. He whom the women thought was dead is alive. Their experience becomes our experience. Yes, dear Brothers and Sisters, Jesus lives and we live in Him. For ever. This is the gift of this night, which has definitively revealed to the world the power of Christ, Son of the Virgin Mary, whom He gave to us as Mother at the foot of the Cross. This Vigil makes us part of a day that knows no end. The day of Christ’s Passover, which for humanity is the beginning of a renewed springtime of hope. “Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea - This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice in it and be glad”. Alleluia!

    Together with Fr Anish, Deacon George and all the staff,I wish you, your family and friends a blessed Easter. 

~ Fr. Paul Dobson