{"id":2478,"date":"2018-04-01T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T16:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2018-04-01T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T16:16:10","slug":"easter-vigil-homily-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/easter-vigil-homily-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Vigil Homily 2018"},"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
\nMark 16:1-7
\nMarch 31, 2018<\/p>\n

We start in darkness tonight to remind us how before \u201cGod created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless<\/strong> wasteland and darkness<\/strong> covered the abyss.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Our blessing of the Easter fire reminds us of how God brought light into the world.\u00a0 We hear the story of creation from Genesis.\u00a0 There are people who look at this creation story and reject it as disproven by science.<\/p>\n

They are missing the point of the story.\u00a0 The story is not trying to explain the \u201chow\u201d of creation by rather the \u201cwhy\u201d.\u00a0 This story as we find it in the Bible today was first written down over 3,000 years ago.\u00a0 The story is even older than that. \u00a0If God had tried to explain all the how\/science, the people back then would not have understood it.<\/p>\n

To understand the point of this creation story, I think the key word in the opening sentence is \u201cformless.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This story is given to us to try and teach us that it is God that brings order to the universe.<\/p>\n

Scientists can talk about \u201cBig Bang\u201d but I think there is too much order and beauty to say that God is not behind it all.\u00a0 The balance of nature, things like plants breathing CO2<\/sub> and breathing out O2<\/sub> while humans breath in O2<\/sub> and breath out CO2<\/sub>. The way male and female come together to reproduce in all animals and humans cannot be a random chance of science.\u00a0 God has brought order to the universe.<\/p>\n

So goes the story of creation.<\/p>\n

Then, God did not choose to create and walk away.\u00a0 God has remained involved in what he has created.\u00a0 This is the story of salvation history.\u00a0 It is the story heard in the singing of the Exsultet and in our readings tonight.<\/p>\n

From the story of creation, the Book of Genesis tells the lineage from Adam and Eve to Abraham.\u00a0 Abraham was a faithful and righteous man to whom God promised descendants as numerous as the stars.<\/p>\n

The problem?\u00a0 Abraham and Sarah were a hundred years old but God fulfilled that promise in giving them Isaac.\u00a0 With them well beyond childbearing years, clearly this happened by God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

Then, \u201cGod put Abraham to the test<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 He told him to offer Isaac \u201cup as a holocaust<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Amazing!\u00a0 Even more amazing, Abraham is willing to do it because his faith is so strong that he is willing to do whatever God asks of him.<\/p>\n

Genesis continues with the lineage from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and Joseph who end up in Egypt.<\/p>\n

That brings us to the story of Exodus.\u00a0 The Israelites had become slaves in Egypt until God sent Moses to rescue them.\u00a0 God performed ten \u201cplagues\u201d revolving his power before leading the Israelites across the Red Sea to new life.<\/p>\n

Just as the Israelites entered new life by crossing the Red Sea, we enter new life through Baptism.\u00a0 Just as God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Jesus will save us from slavery to sin but I am getting ahead of the story.<\/p>\n

The lineage of the Israelites who become known as Jews by Jesus\u2019 time continues through the Old Testament but to be a child of God and to hold Abraham as a father in faith is not just a matter of genetic ancestry.\u00a0 It is a matter of faith.<\/p>\n

We see in our reading from Isaiah that the Lord invites all who are thirsty to \u201ccome to the water!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Salvation is God\u2019s gift to us.\u00a0 We cannot buy or even earn our salvation for we hear the words of the Lord, \u201cWhy spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

We cannot save ourselves.\u00a0 We need to let God shape us and form us.\u00a0 So often, God\u2019s people have tried to live their way but it doesn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have to figure it out.\u00a0 God has.\u00a0 \u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The people continued to sin.\u00a0 God always loves his people and rescues them when they cry out to him.\u00a0 This brings us to Jesus.<\/p>\n

We are sinners.\u00a0 That\u2019s reality.\u00a0 We must always try to learn the truth of Jesus Christ and to live it but when we fall short, we count on Jesus.<\/p>\n

Jesus knows how much we need him.<\/p>\n

This is why he gives us his Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we might become what we eat.<\/p>\n

This why he gives his life for us on the Cross.\u00a0 He is the one \u201cwithout blemish<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 He is the lamb sacrificed for us.\u00a0 That\u2019s the Passion of Jesus.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where our story stopped yesterday as we celebrated Good Friday.\u00a0 Please note that I said that is where the story \u201cstopped\u201d not \u201cended\u201d for the story of salvation did not end with Jesus\u2019 death.\u00a0 It did not end when Jesus was laid in the tomb.<\/p>\n

It continues in today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n

The tomb is found empty!\u00a0 Jesus Christ is risen today!\u00a0 Alleluia!<\/p>\n

Jesus was not defeated in his Crucifixion.\u00a0 He gave his earthly life so that we might have eternal life.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 life did not end in earthly death and neither does us if we follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life.<\/p>\n

I thank Jesus for all he does for us.<\/p>\n

 <\/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 Mark 16:1-7 March 31, 2018 We start in darkness tonight to remind us how before \u201cGod created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss.\u201d Our blessing of the Easter fire reminds us of how …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Easter Vigil Homily 2018’ »<\/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":[282,283],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-DY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478"}],"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=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}