May each of you who read these words have a blessed Easter!
Location: Saint Paul Catholic Church
(Worthington, IA) – 8 p.m. Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday
Basilica of Saint Francis Xavier (Dyersville, IA) – 7 a.m. & 8:30
a.m. Easter Sunday
Date: Sunday April 20th,
2014 (Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil, Year A; Easter Sunday, Years ABC)
READINGS:
Vigil 1st Reading (#1): Genesis 1:1-2:2/ DAY: Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Vigil Resp. Psalm: Ps. 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35/ DAY: Ps. 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Vigil 2nd Reading (#3): Exodus 14:15-15:1/ DAY: Colossians 3:1-4 (OR 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8)
Vigil Resp. Psalm: Exodus 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18
Vigil 3rd Reading (#7): Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28
Vigil Resp. Psalm: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 (OR Ps. 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19)
Vigil Epistle: Romans 6:3-11/
Vigil Resp. Psalm: Ps. 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23/ DAY: Easter Sequence
Vigil Gospel: Matthew 28:1-10/ DAY: John 20:1-9
FOCUS: Jesus is the light of the world
that scatters the darkness.
FUNCTION: Work on growing in your
relationship with God through prayer and worship.
As we heard tonight (OR last night at the Easter Vigil) from
the Book of Genesis, “In the beginning,
when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland,
and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and
there was light. God saw how good the
light was. God then separated the light
from the darkness.” God has created
a marvelous light, and He has brought light forth out of darkness. On Holy Thursday, we celebrated the Lord’s
institution of two great sacraments – the Holy Eucharist and the Holy
Priesthood – as well as how He got up from the Last Supper and washed the feet
of His disciples, giving them an example to follow. On Good Friday, we celebrated the Lord’s
passion and death, and how He submitted to the suffering of the cross because
of His love for sinful humanity. During
the day on Holy Saturday, we waited in silence – to human eyes, it would seem
that He who called Himself “the light of
the world” had been conquered by the darkness. But on this holy night (OR on this holy day), we know that the light has conquered the
darkness instead.
Death
could not hold Him. The grave could not
contain Him. The darkness could not
suppress the light. The Lord rose from the
dead. The world was reborn, and we are
made new in the light of the risen Lord of life. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is our
great hope. We can live for more than
the fallen, sinful, and broken world we see around us. We can live for something greater, something
glorious, something so profound it defies adequate description: Jesus’
resurrection gives us the freedom to live for the kingdom of God, so that we
can rise from our sinfulness and inherit the new life He has promised.
Because
of Jesus’ resurrection, we don’t have to be the people we’ve been: we don’t
have to get stuck in sin, or be conquered by darkness, or be consumed by the
fear of death. Jesus rose from the dead
to give us hope, and to show us that He is exactly who He claimed to be: the
Son of God and Savior of the world. Now
He invites us into a relationship with Him, in and through His Church. He suffered and died for us – to save us and
bring us back to God.
Sometimes
we forget what this salvation cost – it cost the Lord His very life; He
purchased our salvation at the cost of His Body and Blood, given for us first
in an un-bloody way in the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday and then in a truly
sacrificial way on the cross on Good Friday.
How many of you would be willing to lay down your life for people who
might end up rejecting you? And yet that
is exactly what the Lord has done for us.
How
might we give something back to the Lord for what He did for us? Trying to grow in our relationship with God
through regular prayer and worship is probably a good place to start. We worship together on Sundays because Sunday
is the day of the Lord’s resurrection; it is the new Sabbath day for
Christians. The early Christians called
the original Easter Sunday the “eighth day” or the day of the new
creation. On the first day of the week
(Sunday) in the Book of Genesis, God created the light. Jesus shows us that light by His
resurrection, His triumph over the power of sin, darkness, and death. The first Easter Sunday marked the re-creation
of the world. We worship on Sundays
because we’re thankful for what God did for us in and through Christ.
We
celebrate another 40 days now in the Easter season, commemorating the time the
risen Lord spent with His disciples after His resurrection and before His
ascension; and after His ascension, we conclude 9 days later on the Solemnity
of Pentecost, marking the coming of the Holy Spirit, making 50 days of
Easter. During these days, and beyond,
let’s continue to participate in the unfolding of the Easter mystery by coming
here to worship and taking time to pray and read the daily Mass readings, or
spend some time with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s try to give something back to God, who
gave so much for us.
May
this holy night (OR this holy day)
be an occasion of joy for you and your loved ones. May our Easter celebrations strengthen your
faith in the Lord and help you find your hope in God. And may God fill you with His light and peace
in this joyful season. God bless you,
and happy Easter!
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