On this Easter Vigil night, our Scripture readings took us
on quite a journey, through the various stages of salvation history.
We began at the beginning, with creation itself. In Genesis,
God brings light from darkness, order from chaos, and life where there had been
nothing. Man and woman were made in God’s image and likeness, created for
communion with Him. Already, there at the very beginning, are foreshadowing of
what we celebrate tonight: the giving of life, the restoration of communion.
Our second reading, saw Abraham willing to offer his only
son as a sacrifice to God, so strong was Abraham’s faith. While God spared
Abraham’s Son, God did not spare his own, but handed him over to us for our
salvation. And through Abraham came the promise of a great people, a family too
numerous to count—a promise fulfilled in us—in the Church, in which God gathers
people from every nation into his family through faith and Baptism.
In our third reading, God delivers his enslaved children
through the waters of the Red Sea. This is not only Israel’s story; it is ours.
For again this reading foreshadows, what God does here tonight and in the life
of the Church—God delivers us from the slavery of sin through Baptismal waters
to the freedom of the children of God.
In our fourth reading, Isaiah recalls the waters of Noah,
through which God brought a cleansing of the wickedness of the world. These
waters, you guessed it, foreshadow the cleansing waters of baptism.
In our fifth reading, Isaiah again speaks of water: the
water that quenches thirst, but also grain that becomes food, and the promise
of everlasting covenant. Here Isaiah foretells not just baptism, but Eucharist,
the body and blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
In our sixth reading, Baruch speaks of the wisdom of God
which is meant to guide the lives of his people—"those who cling to this
wisdom will live” says Baruch. Here Baruch foreshadows the Wisdom of
Christ—whose words are everlasting life.
In the seventh reading and last of the Old Testament
readings from Ezekiel spoke of the day when God will sprinkle his people with
water and put a new spirit within them. Here of course is a foreshadowing of
Baptism, and Confirmation, the giving of the Spirit.
Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist all given to us, so that we
may share in the Victory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we
proclaimed in the Gospel and by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans.
All of these Scripture readings are not just a collection of
important moments from Israel’s history. They help us to understand and
experience that from the beginning, God has been preparing humanity for what we
celebrate tonight: deliverance and new life through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Tonight, all of those promises, all of those foreshadowings,
all of that long preparation comes to fulfillment. For, tonight is not merely
the anniversary of something that happened long ago. Tonight, the risen Christ
acts in his Church. Tonight, he draws people into his death and resurrection.
Tonight, he makes all things new.
That is why this night is so fitting for the initiation of
our catechumens. Dear catechumens, tonight you do not simply join an
institution or adopt a set of religious ideas. Tonight, by Baptism, you are
brought through the waters. You are freed from the slavery of sin. You are
cleansed. You are claimed. You are made sons and daughters of God. In
Confirmation, the Holy Spirit will be given to you in a new and powerful way,
sealing you as belonging to Christ. And in the Holy Eucharist, you will come to
the altar to receive the Body and Blood of the risen Lord, the food of the new
and everlasting covenant. Tonight, the whole history of salvation which we have
heard proclaimed becomes personal in you.
And for the rest of us, tonight is a summons to remember who
we are. For following the baptism of our Catechumen, all of the baptized, with
lighted candles, will renew our baptismal promises. We will renounce Satan, and
all his works, and all his empty show. We will profess again our faith in God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The renewal is to be for each of us, not an empty recitation
of familiar words, but a true renewal of our identity, as baptized members of
the body of Christ. We are baptized into his victory, and that victory is to
resound in our lives.
So tonight let us rejoice. Let us rejoice for those who are
about to be initiated into the mystery of Christ and his Church. Let us rejoice
that the same grace once poured into our own souls is still alive and powerful.
Let us rejoice that the God who created, called, delivered, cleansed, fed,
instructed, and renewed his people throughout salvation history has done all
this so that we might share in the victory of his risen Son for the glory of
God and the salvation of souls.
