This was the first homily which I wrote, composed for my homiletics course in seminary. We had the option to choose any Mass of the year, and I, as convert, chose the Easter Vigil...
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a might wind swept over the waters.
Then God said,
‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. (Genesis i:1-3)
“…God said, ‘Let there
be light,’ and there was light.”
Brothers and sisters, we began this glorious vigil in the dark of night,
symbolic of the dark nothingness from which God created all the world. First of all, He brought forth light. This evening, with the blessed flames of the
Easter fire, we brought light back to our church with the procession of the
Paschal candle. Though a single, tiny
light, it scatters darkness before it.
Light is so precious
to us in our lives. It reveals the
world, and all things in it. As the
Scriptures affirm, we were not made for darkness or the night, but for the
light of day. Darkness is the abode of
evil. It confuses and frightens. One might envision Hell itself as a
terrifying darkness, where one hears the screams and growls of demons, but
never sees anything in its fullness.
This diabolic anxiety
is NOT for what God created us. He made us to live in the light. And not simply the created light of the sun,
moon, and stars. No…Those are but shadows
of the true light, which is Christ. As
St. John says of Jesus in his Gospel, “In him was life, and the life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in
darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”[i] Jesus, as God, is the source and perfection of
life and light. It is the mystery of His
infinite love that He would lower Himself to assume our weak human flesh in order
to suffer for us. He died horribly on a
cross and went down among the dead, into Hell itself. Today is the day of the Harrowing of Hell, when
nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus’ soul went down into that evil abyss and
released the many righteous souls imprisoned there by the Devil since the time
of Adam and Eve. As Dante speaks of it,
Christ died and entered, and the very foundations of Hell were ripped and torn
by an unimaginable earthquake. Light
entered into darkness, and sent it running for cover. Our most holy Lord conquered the Devil and returned
to life in the Resurrection, which we celebrate tonight.
Gaudeamus! Let us rejoice! Light returns to the world with Christ, and
tonight it will spread yet further through the initiation of our dear brothers
and sisters here who have taken up the pilgrimage of faith. With their Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist, they will
be cleansed and strengthened, and receive immense graces. Among these is illumination, which God will
pour out upon them from His own infinite light.
They will see better the path of truth and virtue, and with the help of
divine grace, move closer to the perfection of Christ. And as we renew our baptismal promises, and
receive again the Holy Eucharist, we will be drawn anew toward the sublime
light of God. For through these blessed Sacraments—through
Christ only—can we hope to enter into that greatest of lights, the
incomprehensible glory of God’s Beatific Presence.
Let us exclaim again,
with Easter joy, that old chant with which we entered here…
Lumen
Christi !! Deo gratias !!
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