Jesus Is Alive! He Lives And Reigns Forever!!

Tonight is the vigil of all vigils. Tonight is the night of victory over sin and death. Death has been conquered forever thanks to Jesus our Savior; salvation is of Christ the Lord. Tonight’s ancient ceremonies of the Easter Vigil go far back to the earliest days of the Holy Mother Church. It is the longest liturgy in the whole of the Church’s liturgical calendar year.

The ceremonies speak to us about the glorious truth; that Christ rose from the dead, He is our LIGHT that can never be dimmed. He lives and reigns forever and that death and the afterlife need hold no fear for us, thanks to His definitive and permanent victory over the grave. We spent the forty days of Lent preparing for this celebration. We have been training for Easter and now it is here.

The readings begins with the creation story; of how in His goodness, God created the world and meant it for good, of our sin came into this world , and ends with the resurrection story; of how Christ came into this world to redeem all mankind from sin and to reconcile us with our Heavenly Father. In means, with Christ’s resurrection creation is renewed and attains its fulfillment in salvation.

By His death and Resurrection life is gained and earth is renewed. By the power of His resurrection, there is light and the end of the tunnel. When the light of the world died darkness covered the sky but when He rose from the dead , He rose as a light that can never be diminished even in the thickest of the valley of darkness

From the beginning of creation, God speaks to us in various ways but when Christ came into the world, God is revealed to us through His Son. Matthew 3:17; Luke 9:35 and John 3:16. To accept Jesus therefore is to accept eternal life; a life that cannot be exhausted for He has made creation salvific and to reject Him is to everlasting life.

St. Paul’s tells us in the letter to the Romans that, by baptism we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The renewal of our baptismal promises is a key point to conversion and new members are welcomed today in the Christian community. This is a powerful demonstration of the truth of the resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit which the resurrection of Christ released and offered.

The Risen Lord is still drawing countless souls to Himself and tonight is a living proof of the Lord’s abiding electrifying force of attraction. Christ is the magnet of souls, and His resurrection is the unquenchable fountain of that divine power which He alone possesses. He created us and knows everything about us therefore we must become intimate with Him every time and everyday all through our lives. This is the rare beauty of a joyful new life.

In this Vigil of all vigils, Christ is present with us as the Paschal light and lamb as He was in the upper room on the first Easter Day, as He was at Emmaus, as He was by the lake of Tiberius, and so many occasions when He made His apparitions to His disciples. As we prepare to welcome Jesus under the roof of our heart in the Eucharist, may Christ who rose from the tomb breathe upon us His life-giving and consoling Spirit and may He shed his peaceful light upon us all. Amen.

Be thankful because Jesus gave us another chance to be a good person. His death cleansed us from our sins and saved us from death.

Fr Joseph Osho