THE NIGHT OF THE GLORIOUS VICTORY.

APRIL 11 2020: HOLY SATURDAY – EASTER VIGIL – A


A Cameroonian proverb says, “The darkness of night cannot stop the light of morning.” And a Kenyan proverb adds, “Life without battle is life without victory.”
In the Islamic lunar calendar, there is one particular night with great significance. It is called the “Laylat al-Qadr” variously translated as the Night of Decree, Night of Power, Night of Value, Night of Destiny, or Night of Measures. The Muslims believe that it is the night when the Quran was first sent down from heaven to this world and also the night when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the prophet Muhammad. For many Muslims, that night equals thousand nights.
The analogy does not always make sense, but one could move from this image of the "Laylat al-Qadr" or Night of Destiny, to talk about the Easter Vigil. For us Christians, the Easter Vigil is the night that gives meaning to every day of human life and to our whole existence. For from this night springs a new day, a new beginning, a new life. The Easter Vigil is the night of the victory of life over death.
Last Friday we all witnessed a great battle. It was a battle opposing life to death. And with human complicity, through a biased trial, death seemed to have defeated life. But that was only a semblance of victory which lasted for a short while, the time for the author of life to visit the realm of the Land of the Dead and from there, set free all those, death was holding captive. Alleluia! Christ is Risen, Alleluia! Life sparks from the human darkness. This is what our Easter Candle represents.
The world today is plunged into a cavernous and sad night, because of a virus, forcing us to confinement and even places of worship to be closed. The light of Easter, however, brings us new hope. Life will prevail in the battle against death. This night in which our world is plunged will also end. Christ is risen! There is hope because of our faith in the resurrection. Here, the Easter proclamation, the Exsultet could strengthen our hope in this glorious future. Do we not sing, “O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer”? So, we could say of this pandemic, "O happy virus that earns for us a great awareness of our nothingness and our need for life in God."
Any well-negotiated battle leads to victory and no war ends without a winner. Soccer lovers will agree that, at a final game, there is always a need for one champion. We are celebrating tonight, the night of the champion, the night of the victory of life over death.
From a most ancient tradition that the Church kept perpetual, this is the night of keeping vigil for the Lord. It, as we said before, the night that gives birth to a new and glorious day. Tonight is the night in which each of us, carrying lighted candles in hand, we sing our salvation.
The liturgy of this evening is made of two beautiful parts. In the first part is the celebration of the Light through the blessing of the Easter Candle. And on the other side, the second part, the Eucharistic celebration animated by the longest liturgy of the word. This gets a special meaning from the prologue of St. John. For, “In the beginning was the Word…” (Jn 1:1). And that word is what gives meaning to all.
The Easter light reminds us of our journey from the darkness of sin into the bright light of righteousness, the restoration won for us by Jesus. It is the time for each of us to renew our baptismal commitments to renounce to Satan, to all his seductions and to sin and to engage in a new relationship with the Lord through sincerity of faith.
Then the Eucharist celebration comes as another beautiful moment. With the seven readings from the Old Testament, the Epistle of Paul and the Gospel, we are taken to meditate on the whole mystery of salvation, from the Genesis with Adam as the cause of human damnation to Jesus as the source of our redemption.
Easter Vigil is the center of our faith. We should, therefore, always celebrate it recalling the high wage Jesus paid for us to live. Today, from the grave, life sprouts out like a new plant. We are being regenerated, recreated, made new in Jesus. Hence, may we all sing with elation the great Alleluia and exult, for life is victorious over death. Tonight, we all are brought from darkness to light. Alleluia!

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