{"id":1583,"date":"2015-04-04T23:15:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T03:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2015-04-04T23:15:59","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T03:15:59","slug":"easter-vigil-2015-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/easter-vigil-2015-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Vigil 2015 Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easter Vigil 2015<\/a>
\nGenesis 1:1-2:2
\nGenesis 22:1-18
\nExodus 14:15-5:1
\nIsaiah 55:1-11
\nRomans 6:3-11
\nMark 16:1-7
\nApril 4, 2015<\/p>\n

Tonight is a special night.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s special for our twelve people who will be entering into the Church tonight and completing their Sacraments of Initiation.<\/p>\n

Watching them receive these sacraments is a healthy reminder for each of us to think about what the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist mean for ourselves.<\/p>\n

Today our readings span the story of Salvation History to remind us of how God always cares for His people, reaching a pinnacle in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n

When did God begin a relationship with the people?\u00a0 At the very beginning.\u00a0 There has never been a time (and never will be a time) when God has not been in relationship with the people.<\/p>\n

Our first reading tonight goes back to the very beginning when God was all that there was.\u00a0 God created the universe out of nothing and gave it order.<\/p>\n

The story of creation we heard tonight is not meant to give a scientific explanation of creation.\u00a0 (see our website “Catholic Teaching and the Question of Evolution”<\/a>).\u00a0 The story of Genesis tells us how God brings order to creation and places humankind, created in His Image, male and female, at the pinnacle of creation.<\/p>\n

I know about big bang and evolution but to think that this could have happened, given the complexity of the universe, without God\u2019s direction seems impossible to me.<\/p>\n

Then our readings turn to the life of Abraham, our father in faith.\u00a0 Abraham had waited a long time<\/em> to see God\u2019s promise of a son fulfilled.\u00a0 Then God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.\u00a0 It seems impossible but Abraham does it.\u00a0 Would we?\u00a0 Abraham made a third day journey to do this.\u00a0 How often do we pray never to suffer and if we do for it to be over quickly?<\/p>\n

God stops Abraham before he goes through with it.\u00a0 In the end, it is God who will sacrifice His Son Jesus for us but that comes later in the story.<\/p>\n

Then comes the Exodus when God rescues His people from slavery to the Egyptians.\u00a0 He does it in a way that only God could with the parting of the Red Sea, revealing His power.\u00a0 We see how the Israelites pass through the waters<\/em> of the Red Sea to enter into new life.<\/p>\n

Through the prophet Isaiah God invites all <\/em><\/strong>to come to the water<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Our human bodies need water for life.\u00a0 We need God to know true life.\u00a0 We can spend a lot of effort on earthly things that never really satisfy us.\u00a0 We are created in God\u2019s image and so the only thing that can truly fulfill us is life in Christ.<\/p>\n

What is the cost?<\/p>\n

There is no monetary cost for life in Christ.\u00a0 We cannot buy life in Christ.\u00a0 We must hand our lives over to Christ.\u00a0 Just as the Israelites passed through the waters of the Red Sea, we pass enter through the waters of baptism to die with Christ.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t easy to follow God\u2019s will.\u00a0 The reality is that at times we fail.\u00a0 God knows this and still loves us so much to send His only Son to die for us.<\/p>\n

We celebrated His death yesterday but we celebrate His death each day when we celebrate the Mass we receive the Eucharist where Jesus gives up His Body and Blood for us.<\/p>\n

The story does not end with Jesus being laid in the tomb.\u00a0 Tonight we hear that the tomb has been found empty and that Jesus has been raised.\u00a0 We are to die to the things of this world so that we might rise with Jesus to new life.<\/p>\n

We receive new life in the sacraments.\u00a0 In Baptism we enter into life in Christ.\u00a0 In Confirmation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Baptism and Confirmation happen once in a lifetime.\u00a0 We are called to celebrate the Eucharist as Jesus\u2019 gift to us over and over to nourish our souls.<\/p>\n

Do we fall short?\u00a0 Do we sin?\u00a0 Yes, and so Jesus gives us the gift of Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we might be restored to life with Him.<\/p>\n

So, now it is time to proceed with our celebration of the sacraments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Easter Vigil 2015 Genesis 1:1-2:2 Genesis 22:1-18 Exodus 14:15-5:1 Isaiah 55:1-11 Romans 6:3-11 Mark 16:1-7 April 4, 2015 Tonight is a special night. It\u2019s special for our twelve people who will be entering into the Church tonight and completing their Sacraments of Initiation. Watching them receive these sacraments is a healthy reminder for each of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Easter Vigil 2015 Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,26,82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-px","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}