Gen 1:1-2:2
Ps104:1-2,5-6,10,12-14,24,35
Gen 22:1-18
Ps 16:5,8-11
Ex 14:15-15:1
Canticle: Ex 15
Isaiah 54:5- 14
Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13
Is 55:1-11
Canticle: Is 12
Bar 3:9-15.32-4:4
Ps 19:8-11
Ezekiel 36:16-17,18-28
Ps 42:2-3,5,4,43:3-4
Romans 6:3-11,
Ps 118:1-2,16-17,22-23
Mt 28:1-10 Full Readings
He is not Here, Heis Risen
Brethren, Easter is here, let us celebrate, dance and rejoice that the Lord has risen from the dead, that the stone which was rejected has become the cornerstone, that Jesus is alive and that has conquered sin and death. This is what we call Easter, which begins on the time we sing Gloria in the Vigil mass today until Pentecost. It is the time to reap the fruits of what we have been fasting for, the labours, prayers and almsgiving which we have done throughout the forty days, it is the time to receive that light of Christ, and as we died to sin through our baptism, let us rise with him, with pure hearts, mind and bodies and walk in the light of the risen Christ forever.
This is the night of ultimate victory over sin and death, a night of new life, new light and new hope. The darkness of this night is torn apart up by the glorious brightness of the one who conquered the power of evil, sin and death. The sadness and glooms of Good Friday are changed into joyous songs of Alleluia. The Paschal mystery reaches its climax tonight. The resurrection of Jesus completed the Father's plan for the salvation of the world. Eternal life is made possible as the one who was tortured, humiliated, crucified on a tree and buried in a tomb comes out alive. Because He rose, we too shall rise again, Because He is alive, we too shall live. In Christ we have our victory. In His resurrection we have our life. We still have to pass through the, sorrows, struggles, defeats, rejections, humiliations, misunderstanding and tortures of our Good Friday in this world. But all of these will end as we partake of the glory of the Risen Jesus. Following Christ our Master, we carry our crosses and walk to our Calvary daily, so that we shall enjoy the glory of new life with Him. Our baptism is a participation in His death and resurrection. We shall renew and live our baptismal commitment and live in the innocence of our new life daily so that we shall enjoy the glory that awaits us.
To receive the light of resurrection, our stones must be drawn away from our hearts. Can we think the stone was just drawn way for Jesus to pass? It would have taken several people to move such a stone. And besides, the sealed tomb had been guarded by soldiers! Removing the stone was clearly the first sign of the resurrection. Bede (672-735 AD), a renowned scripture commentator from England, wrote: "[The angel] rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth. As the virgin's womb was closed, so the sepulcher was closed, yet he entered the world through her closed womb, and so he left the world through the closed sepulcher" (from Homilies on the Gospels 2,7,24). Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD), another early church father remarked: "To behold the resurrection, the stone must first be rolled away from our hearts." Let us move away our hearts of stone to behold the resurrection.
Oh! God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf. The power of his death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying he submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ.
Today's Vigil readings are many in order to recount the History of Salvation, since Easter is the climax of salvation history. The Old Testament readings point out how the man and the whole world was created and then sinned through disobedience of God, presents the father of our faith Abraham, the miraculous liberation of Israelites from Egypt, the rebellious attitude of the people of Israel to God which resulted into exile, God's everlasting covenant with them, how the Israelites are to follow the covenant in wisdom, their fall and how God will give them a clean heart and save them.
The New Testament readings present Jesus as the saviour who came to redeem the world and fulfil the everlasting covenant between God and his people. He preached all over the villages of Galilee and went up to Jerusalem, did miracles, but was arrested, crucified, died, buried and today he lives again as a risen and glorious Christ. He has won the battle, and so there is no need for more sadness, but rejoicing in our Lord Jesus Christ, the risen one.
The resurrection is central to our faith. One thing is certain, if Jesus had not risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, we would never have heard of him. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and courage. The reality of the resurrection is the central fact of the Christian faith. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us "eyes of faith" to know him and the power of his resurrection. The greatest joy we can have is to encounter the living Lord and to know him personally.
We therefore have to receive this new light of Easter that it should find a place in our hearts and make us the lights of the world. May this light of Easter be for us a new beginning, an end of our problems and crises, and give us all of our hearts desires as we place our trust in the risen Christ.
Let us Pray.
I thank You Lord my risen Jesus for having suffered, crucified, died and buried all because of my sins. Now you live again in glory, help me to always move in the light of Easter. Amen.
Happy Easter
Today: Day two of Divine Mercy Novena
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