Easter Vigil C April 19, 2025
Ex.14:10 Canticle 8, Ez 36:24-28 Psalm 42:1-7
Rom.6:3-11 Luke 24:1-12
The Easter Vigil properly done, is an intensive crash course in Salvation History. It includes the lighting of the new fire for the Paschal Candle. One needs to strap in for a long liturgy with readings across the portions of the Bible with interspersed Psalms Canticles, and Prayers (Collects) and for the motivated congregants with stamina, multiple homilies on each of the various readings from Salvation history. Properly done, the Great Vigil can last hours, and it is meant to be a final cram sessions for the candidates for baptism to be filled with the full range of the story of salvation so that they can know their spiritual history, and thus take their place as newly initiated in the perpetuation of this same story into the future through their new ministries ordained in their baptisms. And the Great Vigil finishes with the first Eucharist of Easter during which the newly baptized are welcomed to the Lord Table and thus complete the rite of Christian initiation.
I would like to propose a "negative metaphor" to illustrate the positive mission of Salvation history. Salvation history is the record of a healthy virus which infects people of this world who in turn infect a new generation of people with this healthy virus.
Each person has the image of God upon their lives and not knowing this can leave them sickly and under-performing in graceful living. As people we need to be awakened to our original goodness, and the Bible is stories of this healthy virus infecting us and awakening us to our original blessing.
What is the nature of this healthy virus? It is winsome word about the original goodness and love of God for this world. At the Vigil we read the infecting and infectious word of God which awaken human purpose and allows the human soul to become the host for this winsome infectious word of God.
This infectious word has been written down and passed on through the words of the Bible within the lives of people in many situations. It has survived because it has kept being winsome in awakening something within souls who receives this positive infection as beneficial to their health.
As we hear the many words of the goodness being passed through the generations of biblical peoples tonight, let us be grateful that this message of health and salvation has come to us and awaken within us the original goodness for which we have been put on this earth, namely, to love God and love our neighbor as ourself.
As we can be amazed and surprised at the variety of ways in which this winsome word has come to people, and let us know that the winsome word of the health of salvation is not limited to the ways in which the biblical people found it relevant to them. Let us also be affirmed in the ways which the winsome words of the original goodness of life and our lives has been made known to us. And knowing this for our own lives, let us arise to mentor and encouraged the newly baptized and each other as we walk in the winsome words of the goodness of the love of God.
And let us celebrate the success of the winsome words of hope for our lives in this first feast of Easter which is remembering of the supreme narrative for hope because of the promise of the preserving continuity of our lives through knowing Christ as resurrection and abundant life within us.
Let us rejoice that we have caught the healthy and infectious virus of the good words of salvation, which have awaken us to our real selves who can now confess to live on in the everlastingness of God. So, with joy, thanksgiving, and humility we make the Easter shout: "Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
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