HOMILY FOR EASTER VIGIL
YEAR C ( HOLY SATURDAY)
1.Gn
1:1-2:2
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2.Gn
22:1-18
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3.Ex14:15-15:1
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Is54:5-14
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Rom6:3-11
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Gospel:Lk
24:1-12
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It has been a custom
and tradition of Christians that they celebrate the vigil of the Resurrection
of Christ from the dead. Christ is no longer dead; He is already raised from
the dead.
The word " Easter
is from the word EOSTRE which is the pagan goddess spring and the Saxons, '
April' was OSTERMOUND, meaning the month of the ost-end wind ( wind that is
from the east). That is why we have Easter, and Easter usually happened on
April and is associated as April feast which lasted eight days ( Easter octave).
During Easter
celebrations we usually bless water and
fire. Purposely we do that to renew our
baptism promises that we made during our baptism through our parents. We renew
our baptism promises in order to remind us that we had a promise to the Lord,
that is, to be always faithful to Him, to a prayerful person ( priestly role),
to make our lives good news to others or to be a witness ( prophetic role) servant
of all ( kingly role). We renew these promises in order to have a weapon in
fighting against evil and sins in our lives.
We have got so many
types of vigils, however, the Easter Vigil is the mother of all vigils. For
example we have vigil for the dead, for cause, due to sickness like insomnia,
and vigils due to overnight celebrations, drinking, gambling, and many more.
Easter Vigil is the mother of all vigils because the priest proclaims in the
Exultet: " This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the dead." And so the women who went early to the
tomb to anoint the body of Jesus found the cover stone rolled from the entrance
of the tomb. And a heavenly messenger told them that Jesus is no longer there;
He has been raised.
We can put this
question before us that why women and not men were the first to see the empty
tomb? According to St. Luke's gospel, the women were the ones courageous enough
to go to the tomb and to tend the body of Jesus they loved. They were the first
to be surprised by the power of the Lord to transcend from the death.
They were
the first missionaries to receive the mandate made by the Lord after His
resurrection to spread the news that life had triumphed over death. The
apostles were un able to comprehend or accept the good news that the women
delivered to them. Why? Because women were second-class citizens, objects of
sexual pleasure and only for the home. St. Luke from the very beginning to the
very end of his gospel stressed over the role of women in salvation. Like for
example in the Zachariah and Elizabeth, annunciation to Mary and now two angels
and three women talking in the tomb of Jesus.
It is apparent that the
first missionaries to bring the good news after the resurrection of Jesus were
woman and men refused to believe. It happened that 1995 was declared by the
United Nations as the International Year of Women, how about International Year
of Men? I do not know.
THE
BIG STONE
We heard that there was
a very big stone used to cover the tomb. That stone was the gate that separated
the buried body of Christ and the women and the apostles ( between God and
humanity).
If we put it in the
context of today's first reading, about the beauty of creation, and how Adam
and Eve sinned that made the paradise closed, then we can say that, "that
stone" symbolized the "Original sin." It was so huge, that it
takes beyond human powers to open. No act of goodness of any man can clean the
stain of original Sin. It takes " Christ to die" and be buried inside
the tomb, to roll it open from within. ( It takes God, within the paradise, to
open it again from within).
Christian faith impels
us to live concretely the risen Lord.
Our faith is a challenged to keep vigil
always. Vigil has an acronym is:
V-Vigilant or awareness
of our dignity, stay awake, sensitive to the signs of the times.
I- Initiate. Now is the
time; start your journey
G-Gift. Grace or gift
to be lived out and shared to others.
I-Integral, that is ,
wholeness is holiness.
L- Light, " You
are the light of the world," ( Mt5:14).
Happy Easter to all and
remember, in Christ we live.
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