Easter Vigil 2013
Robert VerEecke, S.J.
Ah! (gasp) Does this “Ah” (gasp) jog your memory? Does it bring you back
to this moment at the Easter Vigil last year? If you’ve forgotten this “Ah”,
you’re not alone. I had forgotten it myself until I reread last year’s homily.
That “Ah” was meant to capture the surprise, shock, fear, what now?, could
it be? that’s all rolled up in the Easter moment, like those burial cloths
rolled up in the empty tomb.
If there’s anyone who might remember that “Ah”, it’s Liberty
who was baptized at the Vigil last year. Since her baptism, Liberty has taken
a leadership role in the Young Adult ministry, is a lector and Eucharistic
minister and even was an acolyte for Holy Thursday. Now that’s what I call
taking one’s baptismal promises to heart! I hope you, Jed, Kristin, Lee,
Andrew, Celsi, will have a similar response to your baptism. Would that all
of the baptized take their baptism so much to heart that it would flood the
world with love and service!
So what’s in store for tonight? For the longest time I wasn’t getting any
“satisfaction” trying to find a “catchy” theme like “Ah!”. I wasn’t getting a
“fair reaction” as I scanned the Lenten season scriptures for inspiration. But
then the inspiration came. In fact it was just a Stone’s throw away. The
Stones. Oh! The Stones. Stones, No, not the Mick Jagger sort of Stones. I’m
speaking of the biblical stones that have been part of the rocky road of our
Lenten journey. You’ve seen them as part of the environment on the back
altar, or even at the tabernacle downstairs.
Have you seen the stones and wondered? What’s with the stones? The
answers are in the scriptures.
The first Sunday of Lent “command these stones to become loaves of bread
The fifth Sunday of Lent “Let the one without sin, cast the first stone
Palm Sunday “Even if my disciples should be quiet, these very stones
would cry out”
Tonight from Ezekiel, I will take away your hearts of stone and give you
hearts of flesh
Tomorrow, the responsorial psalm
The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone.
Have these stones been crying out to us throughout this Lenten season?
Have these lifeless, inanimate objects been crying out all along about the
One who whom the builders rejected. The one who is our corner stone,
Christ, the Risen one. Have these stones been crying out to be rolled away so
that we might see for ourselves, that “he is not here”. He is risen.
That tomb stone, that great barrier to the Resurrection experience is one of
the great dramatis personae in the Easter Story. It plays such an important
“role”. “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb? (Mark)
“An angel rolled the stone away” (Matthew) “They found the stone was
rolled away from the tomb “(Luke) And in John’s gospel Mary Magdalene
sees the stone rolled away.
This rolling stone is transformed from barrier to belief for the woman who
come to the tomb. Someone had to “roll the stone away”. Or did this lifeless,
inanimate object itself come to life, in response to what was happening
inside the tomb. And what was happening within this cold, stony tomb? The
lifeless, inanimate crucified body of Jesus was breaking the barriers of death
and smashing the limits of time and space for all eternity.
Who knows “who rolled the stone away” Angel, earthquake, the Risen One
himself? Of course it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the barrier was
removed and even if the women thought they were “out of their minds”, they
were open to the possibility that something they never dreamed could
happen could become a reality.
Now if this all sounds too theological or too abstract, let me ask you, When
has the stone been rolled away for you of late? Where have you encountered
the incredible, unimaginable action of the Holy Spirit doing what she does?
For me it happened the day of the election of the new pope.
I have to honestly admit that I didn’t want to watch the announcement of the
new Pope. My stony heart couldn’t feel anything but “same old, same old.
Power and Pomp”. But with a heavy heart I dragged myself into the TV
room where staff were waiting with great excitement. When the name of the
new pope was announced, Peter aka. Cephas, aka Rock jumped for joy and
disbelief when he heard the name of the first Jesuit pope. I was mostly
paralyzed. I couldn’t really move. I wanted to weep/ I felt entirely empty,
and utterly grateful and I wanted the doors of my hear to swing wide open.
Not then. But now. On this Easter night.
Jed, Kristin, Celsi, Lee, Andrew. Only you and your godparents know how
many stones have been rolled away for you in this process of coming to
belief in Jesus Christ, coming to know him as the Crucified and Risen One.
But here you are tonight and the stone has been rolled away so that you can
enter into the tomb and see for yourself what those first disciples saw.