EASTER VIGIL MASS (B)
(Romans 6:3-11; Mark 16:1-7)
Mark tells us that three women followers of Jesus
came to anoint His body in the tomb, and, to their great surprise and joy,
found that the exceptionally large stone used to block the entrance to the tomb
had been rolled aside; so:
Entering
the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.
We too have reason to be surprised, if not amazed,
at the fact that this young man sitting at the right and wearing a white robe
is not named. He was obviously an angel,
and that is the surprising thing, because Pope St. Gregory writing about the
Angels and Archangels tells us that:
“Angels
are only sent when something is announced through them. Those who make minor announcements are called
angels, those who make important ones are called archangels. Hence it is that not just any angel was sent
to the Virgin Mary (at the Annunciation) but that Gabriel the archangel was
sent: it was right that the proper one for this role should be of the highest
rank of angels since he was to announce the greatest news of all … When angels
come to minister to us, even the names by which we know them are taken from
their ministry -- Michael means ‘Who is like God’, Gabriel ‘Strength of God’,
Raphael ‘Healing of God’.”
Isn’t it strange then that we are told nothing
about this ‘young man in white sitting at the right’ in the tomb; one who was
there, had been sent, to announce the very greatest news of all -- pace St.
Gregory -- which is the news of the Lord’s Resurrection? There he is, in the tomb, not a glorious,
named, archangel, but simply, a young man dressed in white!!
In that way all our attention is directed to the
message he has been sent to deliver; and yet, all that he says about the
Resurrection is:
He
has risen; He is not here.
The women could see that the Lord was not there, so
really all the young man says about Our Lord’s Resurrection is, “He has risen.” What, indeed, was the young man there
for? You might say, “perhaps he was
there to roll away the stone.” Very
well, but, having done that job, why did he remain? Just to say: “He is risen”? Yes; that was, indeed, the main reason for
his coming and remaining, because those three words both state a supremely
important fact and contain a most important teaching.
First of all, the simple fact is so very important
for the disciples because otherwise they might well have thought, as did Mary
Magdalen, that the body of Jesus had been taken away by some unknown persons:
after all, there were many important people who wanted His name to be totally
forgotten. Had the young man not been
there to declare Him risen, the disciples would, it is true, most probably have
eventually recalled that Jesus had spoken of rising of the third day, but, due
to our human weakness, they could not have had any certainty about whether or not
that had actually taken place without their seeing and touching Him. And this is why the teaching is revealed dear
People of God: Jesus did not want to see his disciples hesitant and unsure,
fearful and doubtful, for He hates the anxious worrying and the corrosive
hesitancy that easily prevents men and women from embracing hope and committing
themselves in trust. Such worry and
hesitancy is the tap root, so to speak, of humankind’s sinful self-love; it is,
spiritually, a mortal threat for a disciple of Jesus, for a child of God. That is why the young man in white
straightway states the fact simply, clearly, and surely: “He is risen”.
Moreover, the young man’s words, reported back to
the disciples, would give them a necessary jump-start, so to speak, moving them
to hope again; it would encourage them to look forward to seeing their Risen
Lord. He therefore went on to speak more
expansively about that future meeting with the Risen Lord:
Go,
tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He
told you.'
How remarkable!
There is no mention of the Crucifixion of only two days ago; the
Resurrection itself has been allotted but a very few words, and the angel goes
on to speak mainly about the future meeting saying: “the arrangement He made
with Peter and the disciples still stands; nothing has happened to change that
planned meeting. He is already going
ahead to Galilee.”
And that was what Jesus wanted: His disciples had
to begin living again, depression and worry had to be replaced by hope; and all
uncertainty and anxiety had to be totally dispelled even before that promised
meeting restored and renewed their commitment to Him. See how self-effacing is Jesus’ love, you
might say how careless He is in respect to His own glory!! The angel’s message was phrased first and
foremost for the well-being of His disciples, only secondly for Jesus’ glory.
And so, on this vigil, nothing is said of how
things happened or where Jesus had gone.
How did He look: glorious, heavenly, majestic, awesome? Wouldn’t we love to take away with us tonight
a picture, some understanding, of that glorious, never before heard of, event
that would give us a spiritual infusion of heavenly zeal and joy? But nothing of the sort!
Now we know, God is wiser than we are: He is
infinitely good, and knows all our real needs; so let us look again, yet more closely,
at what is being offered us this holy night.
In our relationship with God, we have, first of all, to appreciate Who
we are dealing with, what sort of Person, so to speak, He is. The angel’s message, as I said, ignored the
Crucifixion, skipped over the Resurrection, and concentrated on a future meeting
of the Lord and His disciple. It would
seem as if that meeting was of such importance, that nothing, not even a horror
such as the Crucifixion, could possibly, in any way, have prevented it taking
place; and that nothing so gloriously transcendent as even the Resurrection can
be allowed to push it aside into forgetfulness or oblivion! The angel’s message is, therefore, about
God’s Providence and Power: surely you did not think that the Crucifixion could
prevent the meeting: God’s Providence
and Power is total and unassailable; it is also about the Lord’s Love and
Faithfulness: never fear that the Lord in His Risen Glory could ever forget you
and His meeting with you. His Love and
Faithfulness are constant and unfailing!
Surely you can’t fear He might have more important things than you on
His mind?’ People of God, these are
fundamental truths about Jesus, about the God we worship and serve: first of
all, He is the omnipotent Lord of both heaven and earth, Satan can do nothing
that will prevent the coming of God’s Kingdom; and secondly, His Personal love
and faithfulness is more tender and tenacious than the human mind can imagine,
nothing can separate us from His watchful care.
We are next privileged to catch a further glimpse
of the Risen Lord’s love in the angel’s last words to the three women:
Go tell His disciples and Peter!
The disciples, as you will remember, had fled and
left the Lord; that was bad enough; but Peter had three times publicly denied
His Lord. Since then he would have been
breaking his heart with grief and his soul with regret at the recollection of
what he had done. These few words of the
angel show the tender, personal, love of the glorious Risen Lord; they assure
us that the Risen Jesus has indeed a gloriously human sensitivity in our
regard. He was well aware of the turmoil
in the mind and heart of Peter, and He wanted Peter to be assured that he was
in no way to be excluded or cut off.
Therefore the angel had to refer to him by the very name Jesus Himself
had first given him (‘Go to the disciples and Peter’), insisting that he be
present at the meeting in Galilee as planned.
People of God, note well: our God and Saviour is Almighty and -- in the
same Breath of the Spirit so to speak -- most lovingly Personal.
Finally, however, for an authentic relationship
with God, we must know not only Who we are relating to, but we must also be
aware of how we are to relate to Him: for in our life with God we must
have total trust and confidence in God and in the Faith we have been given, the
Faith that enables us to appreciate and contact Him. God’s power and the Lord Jesus’ love will
never fail us no matter what the appearances may be! Therefore, we have to develop within
ourselves -- for that is where the weakness lies -- our confidence, above all,
in God Himself, but also in the blessing of the Catholic Faith which has been
bestowed upon us and handed down to us:
The young man said to them, ‘Do not be amazed;
Go, tell His disciples and Peter, "He is going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see Him, just as He
told you.'"
Very often, People of God, men and women want to
wonder at some apparently marvellous happening -- whether or not it is so
marvellous does not really matter -- because they have no sure rock on which to
rest within themselves. They glory in
the wonder and for a time they feel confident, think they have faith; but then,
as the human chemistry within them, or as the outside circumstances around
them, gradually change, they are not quite so sure, and they begin to feel the
need of another wonder to give them another boost. Now we must not treat the Lord’s Resurrection
in such a way.
To that end, the anonymous young man who this
evening said hardly anything about the Resurrection itself, as we have noted,
actually said almost everything about the Faith God wants us to have:
Do not be amazed. He is going ahead of you. You will see Him just as He told you.
This Easter morning we should leave here with renewed
trust and confidence in, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude to, God the
Father, Who has invited us this day to a deeper appreciation of the mystery of
His Son, our Risen Lord, ever abiding with us, and by His Spirit in us, in Mother
Church. Moreover, we should seek to make this blessing
of deeper love for, and appreciation of, Jesus, this blessing of renewed confidence
in our Catholic Faith handed down to us over twenty centuries by Mother Church,
a permanent feature of our Catholic character. And towards that end, we should
constantly seek to strengthen it within us by making acts and aspirations of
confidence and trust, in the same way as we make the more customary acts and
aspirations of love: Just as ‘My God,
Lord Jesus, I love You’ should always be at home on our lips if we want to grow
in such love, so also exclamations of trust, prayers for hope, outbursts of
gratitude such as, ‘My God I trust you, I hope in You’, or ‘Thank you Father,
Lord, for the gift of the Faith and for Mother Church’ should always be
hovering around in our mind and heart. That is the sort of fruit the Father wants
from our Easter celebration. Therefore,
as we leave here wishing each other a Happy Easter, let us all resolve to give Easter joy to the Father Himself
by striving to bring forth the fruit that He expects from those who wish to
become true disciples of His beloved Son.
A Happy and a Holy Easter to all here present.
