{"id":1799,"date":"2016-03-27T13:04:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T17:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2016-03-27T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T17:04:07","slug":"easter-vigil-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/easter-vigil-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Vigil – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easter Vigil<\/a>
\nGenesis 1:1-2:2
\nGenesis 22:1-18
\nExodus 14:15-15:1
\nIsaiah 55:1-11
\nRomans 6:3-11
\nLuke 24:1-12
\nMarch 26, 2016<\/p>\n

Tonight we celebrate something very special.\u00a0 Tonight is like no other night.\u00a0 Tonight is the most sacred night of the year.<\/p>\n

Tonight will be very special for Suzanne and Kris as they are baptized and received all the Sacraments of Initiation.\u00a0 It will be special for Liz as she is received and confirmed in our Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s special for them as a unique event but it is special for all of us because of what this night represents.\u00a0 The tomb of Jesus has been found empty.<\/p>\n

This is an awesome thing as it means Jesus has risen but to really appreciate it we need to understand it not as an isolated event but as the culmination of the story of Salvation History.<\/p>\n

The story of Jesus is not the story of a person who just shows up and starts doing great things.\u00a0 Jesus is the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father, the God who is our Creator.<\/p>\n

It is the story of Salvation History that we hear tonight in our readings.\u00a0 It begins with the story of creation.\u00a0 God was present at the very beginning when there was nothing but a \u201cformless wasteland<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 Remembering this, we began our service in darkness with only the Easter fire to give us light.\u00a0 After blessing the fire, our Easter candle is lit as a sign of how Jesus is the light of the world.<\/p>\n

We hear in the creation story how God brings order to the world.\u00a0 What we read is not a scientific explanation.\u00a0 It is all about how God creates all that is needed in balance; light and darkness, land and water, the plants and the animals.\u00a0 It is the story of how human beings are created in God\u2019s image and stand at the summit of creation.<\/p>\n

The readings continue with stories of how God does not simply create and leave.\u00a0 Rather, God remains active in the world, constantly renewing the face of the Earth.<\/p>\n

It is God\u2019s gift to us.\u00a0 In return God asks for commitment.\u00a0 We see this when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.\u00a0 Abraham had waited a long time to have a son.\u00a0 Isaac was a great gift to him but he is willing to give him back to God.<\/p>\n

God continues to be active as He leads his people across the Red Sea towards the Promised Land.\u00a0 He does this in a very spectacular way with the parting of the Red Sea.\u00a0 Without a doubt, our God is a powerful God.<\/p>\n

These are the stories of people who lived thousands of years ago but it is not just their <\/em>story.\u00a0 It is our story.\u00a0 It is the story of Salvation History.<\/p>\n

It becomes our story through God\u2019s invitation, \u201cAll you who are thirsty, come to the water<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the price?\u00a0 After all, remember what God asked of Abraham, to sacrifice his son.\u00a0 The Lord says, \u201cCome, without paying and without cost.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We need to be willing to turn our lives completely over to Jesus.\u00a0 We do this out of love and trust in Him.\u00a0 We can trust in God because of the many wonderful things He has done in creating the world, in rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and in setting them free from exile in Babylon.\u00a0 We can trust in Jesus because we can see God at work in him in the many great signs He does; changing water into wine, the healing of the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus.<\/p>\n

We can trust in Jesus because of what we celebrated yesterday, the Crucifixion.\u00a0 What more do we need to trust in Jesus than to know He willing gave his life up for us.<\/p>\n

Of course, death alone could have seem like a terrible defeat but death of the Cross was not the end.\u00a0 The women have found the tomb empty because Jesus is risen.\u00a0 When the women go and tell the others what has happened, it seemed like utter nonsense to them because no one had risen from the dead before but when they see Jesus for themselves, they will come to believe.<\/p>\n

This is the story of Salvation History.\u00a0 It is the story of God\u2019s love for his people.\u00a0 It becomes our story in baptism.\u00a0 It is the story of our salvation.\u00a0 It is the story of new life for Jesus Christ is risen today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Easter Vigil Genesis 1:1-2:2 Genesis 22:1-18 Exodus 14:15-15:1 Isaiah 55:1-11 Romans 6:3-11 Luke 24:1-12 March 26, 2016 Tonight we celebrate something very special.\u00a0 Tonight is like no other night.\u00a0 Tonight is the most sacred night of the year. Tonight will be very special for Suzanne and Kris as they are baptized and received all the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Easter Vigil – 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":[172],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-t1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799"}],"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=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1800,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}