April 7, 2007 Solemn Mass of Easter Vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection (C) - White
First Reading: Genesis 1:1 – 2:2
Responsorial Psalm I: Psalm 104 "Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth."
Second Reading: Genesis 22: 1-18
Responsorial Psalm II: Psalm 16 "You are my inheritance, O Lord."
Third Reading: Exodus 14:15 – 15:1
Responsorial Psalm III: Exodus 15 "Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory."
Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
Responsorial Psalm & Alleluia: Psalm 118 “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 24:1-12
Living the Mystery of the Resurrection
“This is our passover feast…and rose triumphant from the grave…This is the night when Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, was slain.” (The Exultet)
Tonight, we wonder at the history of humanity. We wonder at the works of our Lord, from the time of creation, his greatest masterpiece, to the time when Christ was crucified and died for our salvation, until the time when we, present here tonight, are called Christians, professing one faith in one Lord. Tonight, we wonder at God’s supreme love for all humanity – his allowing of his only Son to be crucified and his raising of him from the dead, whose mystery we celebrate with profound love in this mass. Tonight is the night of our salvation – when we die with Christ to sin and rise with him to new life. We thank God for the entire history of salvation we recalled during the prolonged Liturgy of the Word.
Tonight let us reflect on the beautiful imagery of darkness and light, very well captured by our liturgy of light, when we blessed the fire of Easter and prepared the Paschal Candle, which symbolizes Christ, our pillar of light. The mystery of Good Friday brought gloom and darkness because of the death of the Son of God. Tonight, this darkness is replaced by light because Christ, our paschal lamb, is risen from the dead. The beautiful image of darkness transforming to light symbolizes our hope in the Resurrection, in our own Resurrection from the corruption of worldy sin into the glory of our heavenly salvation. Christ makes us hopeful that through his Resurrection we will be reborn and will be ready for our own salvation. Christ wants us to stop entertaining sin and start a new life in him. The darkness that looms over our old selves should be transformed into light that shines among others. The very beautiful images of darkness and light invite us to become better Christians in the Lord – that through our Lenten observance, we have been changed into worthy people of God, like the Israelites in our readings. Are we ready to live the Resurrection of Christ in our lives?
Tonight, we rejoice at our namesake – Christians. The Liturgy of Baptism that we will celebrate in a while invites us to become one with Christ in Baptism. Through the renewal of our baptismal promises, we are reminded of our participation in God’s plan of salvation. As Christians, we should be able to live a Christian life by our loving service to our brothers and sisters by virtue of our own baptism.
Tonight, we rejoice at the Resurrection of the Lord. With the psalmist, we say with grateful hearts, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad!” (Ps. 118)
- E.J. Segovia
March 31, 2007
During the Spiritual Exercises for Holy Week 2007
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