Homily for the Easter Vigil
Homily delivered by Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Parish Priest
“Thank you for praying with us” is a refrain I’ve been hearing a lot over these last few weeks as members of our community here have joined together in pray with our Ukrainian friends and neighbours in the Cathedral and at rallies, vigils, protests. It’s moved me to be assured that praying together is the greatest thing I can do to offer hope. When life seems to be hopeless. When, in the midst of raw evil and the fear, terrible suffering, mass trauma of the current time, human beings join together across ethnic, cultural, religious divides, to pray to God together. Prayers for Ukraine have been offered at mass rallies of people from all over gathered in Trafalgar Square, with representatives of other faiths, and between Christians of different traditions. This terrible situation is bringing humanity together it seems to search for hope.
Hope in the midst of despair. When all seems lost. The Lord’s entry into the land of the dead after his crucifixion is for us confined to the one day of the year in the Church we wait at the tomb. We know it will end and explode into the Easter joy of the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. We know he is risen. We know it will be over soon. Not so for the apostles and the women who run to the tomb on Easter morning. For them death is as it seems for us when we grieve. It is final, and if it is a horrible violent traumatic unexpected death of a dear loved one, indeed the hope of Israel, it is the lowest points of no return. This is where he is. This is where he meets us in our times of despair, trauma, confusion about the point of life, depression when we just can’t pull ourselves out of it or be pulled out. And it is there, at this point, he finds us, takes us by the hand, and says I love you just as you are. It is there Jesus is all those people in our lives who lift our spirits, makes us whole, teach us again why we’re here and why we believe in God.
This evening we started our service with the lighting of the Easter candle, which, like the cross yesterday afternoon, is processed through the church. Like the cross yesterday there is a special poignancy to this. The Easter candle is standing here on the sanctuary, a beacon of hope amid the darkness of our post-pandemic world. The power of the light of Jesus’ rising which really can dispel every darkness in our lives and in our world. That’s why we’re praying together this evening. It speaks volumes about who we are as the Christian community in these troubled times. Because the mark of our faith as Christians is that Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end but rather a new beginning for our world because in dying for us he has done away with the power of death for ever, he has destroyed the power of sin and evil forever, and he has given us our freedom as the human race to put our faith into action, to rebuild a future of hope.
Let us be clear again about what we celebrate this evening. This is far from a matter of personal spirituality – otherwise we might be quite happy to read the scriptures at home this weekend. We would not need Christian community. We would not need the Church. We wouldn’t be so concerned, if we can’t be here in person, to participate through the livestream. No, the resurrection is a cosmic event. The drama of this night shows us that. We are not so much individual believers – we are an Easter people. A people whom God has loved from the beginning and who now dies for us and rises again so he can rise again in you and me. In this way, coming together from so many different places in life, different backgrounds, gender, orientation, doubters and fervent believers, seekers and those hurt and angry about faith and Church, we are a community together who are called to hope, to be Easter to the world. For me that makes sense of why I’m a member of the Church.
Tonight is a night to rejoice in this truth, yes, even though for most of us it’s far from that simple. Maybe we’re not sure we really need a faith to hold on to, we see so much death, sin, evil still in the world, where the powers of darkness have found footholds in our world. We see so much inequality in our society made so much clearer through the pandemic. The dark side of our wonderful city’s life, perhaps through our city’s vastness and diversity in some ways a microcosm of society. The homeless crisis during the pandemic; the explosion of foodbanks both in poorer parts of central London and in leafy suburbs, the seething underbelly of violence on estates, in schools, on our streets, the hypocrisy and enmity at the heart of institutions including Christian community, the way we increasingly show those who want sanctuary and support a closed door – how truly dreadful that is.
We want to say this evening, if you are here and unsure why, or you are here for the first time in a while, we want to say “welcome” and “welcome back”. And we have a programme here called Landings which focuses on compassionate listening as we tell our stories in a safe environment, not with clergy but with members of our community who have been away and have returned. Do take some cards with you – we have request for information and prayer cards at the exits - with details of how to connect either for yourself or perhaps for someone you know who might be thinking of returning to the practice of faith. And I’m delighted to announce we also are starting this coming week, just in time for Easter, a confidential helpline staffed by wonderful volunteers, to ‘phone in and have a chat about returning to the Church. Do please spread the word about this. It’s called Catholic Listeners - all in the newsletter.
But above all, as we stand in the presence of this new Easter candle, may we go out into our world with much hope this evening. Jesus now wants to enter into our broken world again with the power of his love and calls us to be his apostles of that love. A very happy Easter to everyone tonight!