EASTER VIGIL MASS 2015
Life
has always been made up of transitions – from crawling babies to walking
teenagers to working adults then finally to sleeping oldies. However, what is
important in these transitions is whether we have moved from better to best and
not from bad to worst.
Our
Liturgy tonight is filled with a lot of symbolic transitions. We began our Mass
with the Church in total darkness but when we proclaimed that Christ is our
Light, darkness succumbed to the power of light. In the past few days, the
Church was bare and empty as a sign of grieving for the death of Christ. But
tonight, the flowers and lighted candles capture our joy for the news of the
Resurrection. After the homily, we shall witness the priest blessing the new
water. After which, we also shall renew our promises we once made at our own
baptisms. Such is the symbol of our moving away from an old self towards a more
renewed Christian. However, the greatest and most important transition which happened
tonight is what took place in our Gospel this evening – Christ’s passing from
death to life, his Resurrection!
Mary Magdalene
and the other women were early in the tomb of Jesus. When they arrived, they
saw the stone rolled and inside the tomb they saw not the corpse of Jesus but a
young man who told them not to fear for Jesus of Nazareth is alive and is in
Galilee waiting for his disciples. Such was the experience of the women that
they were in fear until the end of the Gospel. If we read the Matthean account
of the Resurrection, we can read that after the women heard the news, they were
rejoicing to share the news to the other disciples. We may easily judge these
women for being faithless because of their fear. Such news was something new
for them! Yes, they believed in the resurrection. Nevertheless, it will happen
on the last day. Thus, such news of Jesus’ transition from death to life was
something novel in their minds. However, in the end, they remained open to the
news and informed the other disciples.
As we
draw near the end of Holy Week 2015 and begin the Great Season of Easter, we
are then challenged to experience a meaningful transition in our Christian
lives. Like Jesus who conquered death through his glorious resurrection, let us
also move away from our old sinful lives to a more grace filled living with the
Risen Christ. As we renew our promises at baptism later on, may we truly mean
what we are saying – that we reject Satan and believe in God. Though there is still that fear in our hearts
that we might fall again in the past, but let us allow the grace of the
Resurrection to open our hearts for as Pope Francis puts it, “Let us not close
our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no
situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if
only we open ourselves to him.”
A
Blessed Season of Easter to all!
A
Blessed Season of Joy, friends!
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