when they entered, they did not
find the body of the Lord Jesus
And so the mystery begins to
unravel.
The women at the empty tomb are
confused.
Who has taken the body of their
Lord?
Why would anyone do this?
Where have they taken him?
They are further confused by the
angels' words:
Why do you seek the living one
among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been
raised.
Then the angels remind the women
of what they already know:
Remember what he said to you while
he was in Galilee, that the Son of Man
must be handed over to sinners and
be crucified, and rise on the third day.
And they remembered his words.
Remembering is an innately human
activity.
How often have we been told a
story, heard a grandparent reminisce, or cried over a loved one who has died.
Don't we all remember those major
milestones in life:
falling in love for the first
time;
high school victory on the
football field;
21st birthday celebrations;
marriage;
birth of our first child;
day I received my first communion
or was confirmed or was ordained.
Then there are the painful
memories of trauma, tragedy and sadness in our lives.
All memories are important, evoke
certain feelings and constitute who we are.
In our Easter Vigil tonight we are
invited to remember the story of our salvation and the good news that Jesus who
was crucified is now risen.
Everything we do tonight -
lighting candles, listening to the stories from scripture, , sharing communion
-
says that we are like the women
standing in the tomb:
we remember, we believe, we
celebrate our Christian heritage and identity.
And this brings me to the second
thing I would like you to remember.
Please remember that you belong
with us.
The Catholic Christian communities
of Francis de Sales and Visitation, or whatever other Catholic community you
may become a member of, is your spiritual home.
You belong here, and this is the place where you can
thrive and flourish as a disciple of Christ.
You belong with us
Please remember that.
And lastly, I would like us to
remember that, like the women in our gospel tonight, we all too are sent to
announce the good news of our faith to others.
We do this, not so much by overt
preaching, but simply by living lives of courageous Christian witness and moral
integrity.
we are sent and commissioned to be
a sacrament - indeed a living memorial - of the person of Jesus in our world.
That is what is called evangelism.
And our diocese wants us to be
about re-evangelizing our community and our world.
Our world, and the one human
family that inhabits it, is hurting and divided
Human greed, fear, arrogance and
blindness, are depleting the earth's natural resources.
Disease, poverty and violence are
killing thousands everyday.
As disciples of Christ
I encourage you to always uphold the dignity of human life;
to always honor and reverence
everything in creation and to above all demonstrate to the world what it means
to live in loving communion.
As we remember, as we believe and
as we celebrate who we are in God's beautiful dream of humanity.
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