22nd March 2008 - EASTER VIGIL 2008
This Vigil we are celebrating tonight is powerful beyond words. It attempts to get across to us the wonder of the Resurrection of Christ. Over the last six weeks across the world the Disciples of Christ have been preparing for this night through acts of prayer and penance. Tonight the Word of God speaks powerfully to us of God's fidelity to his people in Old Testament times; it also reinforces the uniqueness of the Christ event. Over the last three days we have journeyed with the Son of God from the Upper Room, to his death on the hill of Calvary, to the silence of Holy Saturday and now we stand speechless as it were before his empty tomb.
What exactly was it like at the dawn of that first Easter Sunday? The women went to the tomb crushed and heartbroken by the death of Jesus. But to their amazement they saw the stone being rolled away from the tomb and heard the consoling message of the angel that Jesus was risen. That Stone was the great symbol of the victory of death in the life of Jesus Christ. However that stone was rolled away in the same way Stephen took away the stone from our own Easter garden. The women became the first Apostles of the resurrection. They were charged with the mission to go and tell the disciples and in their haste we are told they met Jesus himself who asked them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. In other words they were already forgiven for their betrayal. This night we too are commissioned by the Lord to go from here and tell all his brothers and sisters that he has risen from the dead. We do that above all by the words we say and how we live in the world. When people meet us and listen to us do they recognise us as an Easter people whose inner spirit cries out Alleluia, as people imbued with faith hope and love?
A very ancient tradition attests that the Risen Christ appeared firstly to his Mother Mary. She will accompany us throughout the season of Easter. Mary who was the first disciple of her Son, the one who heard the Word of God and understood it will give us the courage to bear witness in these remarkable days. As one writer has said 'Easter like all deep things, begins in mystery and it ends like all deep things in courage'. Have a happy Easter. Beannacht ná Cásca dhuibh go léir.
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Homilies Archive
2009 HOMILIES
25th December 2008
Christmas
21st December 2008
14th December 2008
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Immaculate Conception
7th December 2008
2nd Sunday of Advent
30th November 2008
1st Sunday of Advent
23rd November 2008
Christ the King
16th November 2008
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All Souls
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All Saints
26th October 2008
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15th August 2008
Assumption
10th August 2008
3rd August 2008
20th July 2008
13th July 2008
29th June 2008
22nd June 2008
1st June 2008
23rd March 2008
Easter Sunday
22nd March 2008
Easter Vigil
2nd March 2008
24th February 2008
17th February 2008
10th February 2008
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