Easter Vigil

Under the cloud of COVID – 19, the great Easter Vigil, the mother of all vigils, is celebrated in a muted fashion this evening.  Muted, in the sense we are missing some of the powerful symbols of our Easter celebration, but, without doubt, God is still with us in this joyous celebration of the Easter liturgy.  We miss the lighting of the Easter candle in the landscaped area at the front entrance of the Church and the procession of the light of Christ into our darkened Church.  Most of all, we miss the Rites of Christian Initiation for those joining our Catholic faith community and those receiving the Sacraments of Initiation.  We hold in prayer these candidates:  Mandy Friend Gigliotti, Karin Theobald, Katy Yarid, Jennifer and John Whitley.  We pray also for Nathan and Nicole Hill who soon with be receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
We gather through the gift of livestreaming to express and to celebrate the Easter message:   all are welcome; all are forgiven; and the Lord seeks to fill this world with his love.  May this Easter joy fill our hearts in a way that is beyond the reach of any virus.
Father Jeff sang beautifully the first proclamation of Easter in the “Exultet,” a song of joy and exultation.  This is the night we sing of the triumph of God’s mighty love.
From the first Scripture reading, the creation account from the Book of Genesis,  proclaimed so beautifully by Cathy and Deacon Duncan, we hear:  "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep..." In the beginning, all was a dark void.
And in this empty tomb where Jesus was buried, we find the same reality--it is a dark void.  How many times will we find ourselves in that dark place? A place where any ray of hope is extinguished in the vacuum of fear, of not knowing, of total emptiness.  Do we sometimes have this feeling when our fears get the best of us in dealing with COVID-19 -- the darkness of this shattering reality that we had no idea was coming our way.
But in that place, somehow through the grace of God, we must be patient. As was true in the Creation account, we must wait for the wind of the Spirit, the "wind from God that sweeps over the face of the waters" to fan the dim embers of our faith.
"Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.... God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
You see, both darkness and light are part of the first day. Darkness and light are halves of every day ever since that first day.  Darkness and light are essential parts of our lives. And when we find ourselves in that dark lonely place, we must remind ourselves of this truth. There will always ultimately be light in the midst of the darkness.
Darkness is shorthand for anything that scares me—the darkness of a terrifying diagnosis -- either because I am sure that I do not have the resources to survive it or because I do not want to find out.
Darkness is part of every day. But there will be light. What would our lives with God look like if we trusted this rhythm of darkness and light instead of fighting it?
In the paschal mystery of Jesus, the darkness of  suffering and death gives way to the light of the Risen Lord.  Yes, our spiritual journey consists in finding that grace-filled rhythm of light and darkness in the life journey of each one of us.
Liturgically we light the Easter Candle because we believe in the light that comes from the Risen Lord.  Indeed, in the light that comes from the Risen Lord, the darkness of fear and the darkness of sin is no more.  This Easter candle needs to be lit in the deep recesses of our hearts.

Yes, there is uncertainty of how long we are going to be in isolation caused by this pandemic; Yes, we are worried about the health of those we love; yes, we may be dealing with the reality of unemployment; but when the Easter candle is lit in the deep recesses of our hearts, we can proclaim with boldness that we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

In this Easter season, may we allow God to fill our hearts with an Easter joy that no one or no situation can take from us.

This night is a night of Easter Joy.   

Thinking about the Easter candle that needs to be lit in the deep recesses of our hearts, I can say for me personally I have anticipated Easter joy in the ways we have been able to connect in livestreaming our liturgies and in our Lenten and Easter videos and in praying the rosary with you on Facebook live. Until a short time ago, I was pretty clueless as to the various ways of communicating on social media.  I give a major shout out to three members of our parish staff who are experts on social media:  Nancy Veronesi, Cathy Kamp, and Deacon Duncan Harris.  Nancy, Cathy, and Duncan have made look like I know what I am doing, and they have seized the opportunity for all to us to stay spiritually connected in our Lenten journey in preparing ourselves to experience Easter joy.  While in a million years, I would have never guessed that this would be the way we would be celebrating this the mother of all vigils, the Easter Vigil.  Yet, I firmly believe that the Risen Lord is present among us.  I feel your faith-filled presence even though I am looking at a camera. 

But isn’t it true that the Resurrection event itself is difficult to grasp.  Resurrection is far removed from our human experience. It’s much easier to talk about birth and death which are familiar human experiences.  But what is clear is the ways we experience Easter joys.  I experience Easter joy in this new way of connecting with you and wishing and praying that the Risen Lord blesses you and your family.  I am not suggesting that communicating with you through social media will be the new normal.  I long for us to be physically together celebrating the Eucharist in our faith communities. 

But for now, I am focused on the blessings, the Easter blessings, we now enjoy.  May we continue to feel spiritually connected with each other in sharing Easter joy.  God desires our Easter friendship.  God desires that we share our friendship with each other. Through these means of social media we now use, allow the Risen Lord to fill this world and our hearts with His love.

May we share in the joy and hope of the Risen Lord.