Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Tonight is a holy night. And why is this night holy because you will be more holy. This night makes you more holy. And what does it mean to be more holy? To be good, to be more successful, wiser, but this is not holiness. What is holiness? To allow Christ to love you. This is what makes you more holy. You will become more holy tonight because the Lord will make you holy.
The singing of the Exultet always touches me and helps me to enter this vigil tonight, when we sing, Oh happy fault that has deserved so great a savior. In this night there are no moralisms (you have to be good, etc.) there is zero effort being asked of you. Oh, happy fault also relates to us. What is the fault or sin that brought you to the Church? It is marvelous to see how this word of God can help you. The sin that brings you here today this Easter is forgiven by the Lord, and not only forgiven, but you are made happy, joyful. Have you thought much about this? Oh, happy fault that sent us so great a savior. What is the worst sin that you committed, the very worst? That sin Christ uses today to enter heaven; what a wonderful, stupendous night or glorious night as the Exultet says.
On this night God strips Pharaoh and enriches Israel. It is a night that destroys sin; a night in which Christ rose. It is already night and in your life is there light or only darkness? We started this night with a lucernarium to remind us of a very deep truth: that without Christ our life would be total darkness. Without Christ means that you don’t experience that you are loved by him. If we have some serious sin like adultery or fornication, we are in darkness; we don’t have the light of Christ. And you steal at work or something else because you do not have this light. When we don’t have it, we live as if we were enjoying a series of little things that give us a little bit of life and we hold onto those things like family or work or affections, but they all pass away. The only thing that doesn’t is the light. The Exultet says the morning star never sets, it burns all night. This light never burns out. This light or this Easter candle is a symbol of the love of God; it does not go out. It is always on, all your life, burning brightly.
Ezekiel gives us a wonderful word tonight. God will give you a new heart and infuse you with a new spirit; he will pour fresh water upon you. It is awesome to hear that God will take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Jesus doesn’t just give you two little patches, no. He takes out that rotten heart that you and I have and puts into you a new heart so that you are able to love. It is a heart that can forgive, a heart full of mercy. I don’t know if you have seen how people who are brain dead give their organs to a person in need. The sick person gets a call and then he has to rush to the hospital and undergo a complicated surgery. Does anyone here have a heart transplant? It is not easy to get one and perhaps you don’t need it. But someone whose heart is full of fat, clogged or damaged, they give you a new heart. But of course, it is necessary that someone has to die for you to get that heart. For us that is Christ who had to die so he can give us a heart of flesh so replace the stony heart we have so we can love. It pumps pure oxygen not only to itself, but it can give this life to others.
Christ not only died for you, but he also rose for you; this is the good news that you can overcome death and we will see it now in those who are to be baptized. These children are to be buried in the waters of baptism. The old man and original sin are going to be buried so that he/she can rise with Christ. It is crucial for parents and godparents to help them to live this faith. Often the godparents are disasters; they need to have at least a little bit of faith. Tonight, we can all renew our baptismal promises that we received when we were just a few months old. Let us pour water from this wonderful font over all of us, not as something magical that suddenly makes us pure or no longer lustful, even if you go into the font naked. It is not going to heal you or cure you no matter how much water there is or how much you drink. It is not magic. When you make the sign of the cross this can remind us of our baptism where we are called to live the faith of the Church, which is to do the will of God.
I love this gospel because the women are in a panic about who will move the stone from the tomb? This stone is extremely heavy and what is the true stone that keeps you from reaching Jesus Christ? I hope you know what that stone is for you today. Maybe it is love of money, or lust, or a disordered sexuality, perhaps it is vanity or the desire for more power in front of others. Perhaps it is to accept the disease you have, which is a very heavy stone, so big that you cannot possibly move it. We have come to this Eucharist thinking who will move this stone? Who might die or sacrifice himself to move it? And the women are shocked when they come to the tomb and find that the stone is already moved. They go looking for a dead man and they find that he is risen. You are looking for a life from your spouse and you see a man who is dead, a man who cannot give you life. Or you do the same with your children or with friends. Why are you looking for a dead man or woman that does not satisfy you.
The life that we have doesn’t fulfill us; something serious is missing. For sure, one day we will die and then we will come fully alive. Let us be catapulted to the day of your death, but I want to call it the day of your resurrection. We cannot rise if we are not dead. The good news is that you come to this Easter dead inside, with your sins that have destroyed others, especially your sexual sins. You come with your sins in your hands or with the history that you cannot accept that your father or mother is not the way you want or the financial situation you face or the death of someone you still cannot accept ten years later. You still have a resentment, and you hope this Easter will help you.
The good news is that Jesus wants to raise you up and make of you a holy man or woman. It is only Christ who can do this because he lives in you. He is all around us, in nature and in every person we meet. He wants to make of you a new person with a new heart, a holy man or woman capable of love. I want to encourage you tonight to see that Christ loves you and remains in you and loves you deeply. He is always with you and always will be with you and someday he will take us to heaven. We pray that that day may be today. It can be today because you can have heaven in this wonderful vigil tonight.