杏MAP导航

By Seàn-Patrick Lovett

Also known as the 鈥渘ight of nights鈥�, the Easter Vigil is really the climax of the Triduum celebrations. It is on this night that we commemorate, through poignant words and powerful symbols, the death and Resurrection of Jesus. True to that symbolism, the ceremony begins outside the church, in darkness 鈥� and in silence.

Speechless before the Cross

This silence is one with which we can all identify, said 杏MAP导航 Francis in his . In the same way as Jesus鈥� disciples stood 鈥渟peechless before the Cross鈥�, incapable of 鈥渟peaking out on behalf of their Master鈥�, so too do we stand 鈥渟peechless in the face of situations we cannot control鈥� 鈥� believing that 鈥渘othing can be done to reverse all the injustices that our brothers and sisters are experiencing in the flesh鈥�.

Overpowering silence

Darkness and silence disorient and paralyze us, said the 杏MAP导航. They 鈥減lunge us into a crushing routine that robs memory, silences hope, and leads to thinking that 鈥榯his is the way things have always been鈥欌��. Amid this 鈥渙verpowering silence鈥� it is the stones that 鈥渃ry out鈥� and proclaim 鈥渁 new way for all鈥�. Delivering his homily in St Peter鈥檚 Basilica ablaze with light, 杏MAP导航 Francis affirmed that: 鈥淐reation itself was the first to echo the triumph of life over all that had attempted to silence and stifle the joy of the Gospel鈥�.

Overcoming fear

鈥淒o not be afraid鈥�for He is risen鈥�. These words, according to 杏MAP导航 Francis, should 鈥渁ffect our deepest convictions and certainties鈥�. They should challenge us and encourage us 鈥渢o trust and believe that God 鈥榟appens鈥� in every situation and in every person鈥�. 鈥淗e rose from the dead鈥�and now He waits for us鈥�, continued the 杏MAP导航, so that we can 鈥渟hare in His saving work鈥�. Christ is risen: 鈥淭his is the message that sustains our hope and turns it into concrete gestures of charity鈥�, he added.

Challenging our conventions

For 杏MAP导航 Francis, the key to celebrating Easter is to recognize how God constantly gate-crashes our lives, 鈥渃hallenging our conventions, those fixed ways of thinking and acting that end up paralyzing us鈥�. God is inviting you and me, concluded the 杏MAP导航, 鈥渢o break out of our routines and to renew our lives鈥�. The invitation is personal and powerful: 鈥淒o we want to share in this message of Life, or do we prefer to continue standing speechless before events as they happen?鈥�

Full text of the 杏MAP导航's Easter Vigil Homily

We began this celebration outside, plunged in the darkness of the night and the cold.  We felt an oppressive silence at the death of the Lord, a silence with which each of us can identify, a silence that penetrates to the depths of the heart of every disciple, who stands wordless before the cross.
         These are the hours when the disciple stands speechless in pain at the death of Jesus.  What words can be spoken at such a moment?  The disciple keeps silent in the awareness of his or her own reactions during those crucial hours in the Lord鈥檚 life.  Before the injustice that condemned the Master, his disciples were silent.  Before the calumnies and the false testimony that the Master endured, his disciples said nothing.  During the trying, painful hours of the Passion, his disciples dramatically experienced their inability to put their lives on the line to speak out on behalf of the Master.  What is more, not only did they not acknowledge him: they hid, they escaped, they kept silent (cf. Jn 18:25-27).
         It is the silent night of the disciples who remained numb, paralyzed and uncertain of what to do amid so many painful and disheartening situations.  It is also that of today鈥檚 disciples, speechless in the face of situations we cannot control, that make us feel and, even worse, believe that nothing can be done to reverse all the injustices that our brothers and sisters are experiencing in their flesh.
         It is the silent night of those disciples who are disoriented because they are plunged in a crushing routine that robs memory, silences hope and leads to thinking that 鈥渢his is the way things have always been done鈥�.  Those disciples who, overwhelmed, have nothing to say and end up considering 鈥渘ormal鈥� and unexceptional the words of Caiaphas: 鈥淐an you not see that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed?鈥� (Jn 11:50).
         Amid our silence, our overpowering silence, the stones begin to cry out (cf. Lk 19:40)[1] and to clear the way for the greatest message that history has ever heard: 鈥淗e is not here, for he has been raised鈥� (Mt 28:6).  The stone before the tomb cried out and proclaimed the opening of a new way for all.  Creation itself was the first to echo the triumph of life over all that had attempted to silence and stifle the joy of the Gospel.  The stone before the tomb was the first to leap up and in its own way intone a song of praise and wonder, of joy and hope, in which all of us are invited to join.
         Yesterday, we joined the women in contemplating 鈥渢he one who was pierced鈥� (cf. Jn 19:36; cf. Zech 12:10).  Today, with them, we are invited to contemplate the empty tomb and to hear the words of the angel: 鈥淒o not be afraid鈥� for he has been raised鈥� (Mt 28:5-6).  Those words should affect our deepest convictions and certainties, the ways we judge and deal with the events of our daily lives, especially the ways we relate to others.  The empty tomb should challenge us and rally our spirits.  It should make us think, but above all it should encourage us to trust and believe that God 鈥渉appens鈥� in every situation and every person, and that his light can shine in the least expected and most hidden corners of our lives.  He rose from the dead, from that place where nobody waits for anything, and now he waits for us 鈥� as he did the women 鈥� to enable us to share in his saving work.  On this basis and with this strength, we Christians place our lives and our energy, our intelligence, our affections and our will, at the service of discovering, and above all creating, paths of dignity.  
         He is not here鈥� he is risen!  This is the message that sustains our hope and turns it into concrete gestures of charity.  How greatly we need to let our frailty be anointed by this experience!  How greatly we need to let our faith be revived!  How greatly we need our myopic horizons to be challenged and renewed by this message!  Christ is risen, and with him he makes our hope and creativity rise, so that we can face our present problems in the knowledge that we are not alone.
         To celebrate Easter is to believe once more that God constantly breaks into our personal histories, challenging our 鈥渃onventions鈥�, those fixed ways of thinking and acting that end up paralyzing us. To celebrate Easter is to allow Jesus to triumph over the craven fear that so often assails us and tries to bury every kind of hope.
         The stone before the tomb shared in this, the women of the Gospel shared in this, and now the invitation is addressed once more to you and to me.  An invitation to break out of our routines and to renew our lives, our decisions and our existence.  An invitation that must be directed to where we stand, what we are doing and what we are, with the 鈥減ower ratio鈥� that is ours.  Do we want to share in this message of life or do we prefer simply to continue standing speechless before events as they happen?
         He is not here鈥� he is raised!   And he awaits you in Gaiilee.  He invites you to go back to the time and place of your first love and he says to you: Do not be afraid, follow me.