Homily from the Parish Priest for the Easter Vigil
This evening we started our service with the unceremonious lighting of the Easter candle, which, like the cross yesterday afternoon, is normally processed through the church. Like the cross yesterday there is a special poignancy to this. The Easter candle – regardless of everything to do with the pandemic – is standing here on the sanctuary, a beacon of hope amid the relative pared down starkness of this year’s Easter Vigil ceremony. We may not be able to sing, give the sign of peace, light each other’s candles, but, as the Exultet proclaims, this light burns brightly dispelling the darkness of this night.
The power of the light of Jesus’ rising which dispels every darkness in our lives and in our world. 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, he has given us our freedom as the human race to rebuild a future of hope.
Let us be clear 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 in our families or in our bubbles. We would not need Christian community. We would not need the Church. 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.
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, or we’ve been hurt by the Church and so don’t want to get too involved, 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 London life, perhaps through our city’s vastness and diversity in some ways a microcosm of society. The homeless crisis during this last year; 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. And in the Church herself it is true that the powers of darkness too have infiltrated what is good and holy through our complicity with the evil of abuse, abuse of human beings, abuse of power.
Tonight is a new start again for the Christian community at a time of crisis. And 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.
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. We have been through a collective time of trauma, marked by so many conflicting emotions. Jesus now wants to enter into this space with the power of his love. May we be filled this Easter with new hope so we may build a more human future for our world in crisis being called again today to new life.
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ