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Paschal Vigil 2026
We have heard many words of the Scriptures tonight. We certainly took the time to listen to these readings which belong to our family story – the story of the Church and the world, from the creation in the beginning to the resurrection of Jesus on Easter day. We did our best to be attentive and on the whole, we managed rather well, even though I had the impression I saw one or two of us dozing off at times. Well, this is part of the liturgy.
The liturgy is a world in itself. It is the beginning of the world recreated in the resurrection of Christ. Take the fire: it becomes the light of Christ. Think of the water: it becomes the spring of life issued from the side of Christ. See the wax of the candles, the splendour of the vestments; notice the flowers and the hangings, even the vessels soon to be on the altar: all give glory to Christ, honour Christ, speak of Christ’s victory. And all of us, we are witnesses to His resurrection by our presence, our faith and our love.
While voices read and sing to the best of their abilities, our ears and our eyes are bathed in a new dimension which is properly divine for everything in our assembly is a symbol of Christ, every one of us is a sign and a presence of Christ risen from the dead. Our prayers and the rites which we perform with care and love breathe the Spirit of the Risen Christ. He Himself is here among us now. He is in our hearts by the gift of faith. He draws us to love one another in His love. He will soon offer Himself on our altar and give Himself to our souls in the gift of the Eucharist.
Jesus is among us in the strength of His resurrection. He speaks to us in the words of the Scripture and the symbols of the liturgy. So, let me ask: What does He say? What does the Risen Christ say? What is the Word of this Easter Vigil?
I suppose each of us may have a different answer to these questions. One word may have touched you more than others. A symbol or a rite may have seemed more meaningful. You may have realised a dimension of faith you had not quite seen that way before. Or you may simply have felt comforted by the whole ceremony without anything sticking out particularly.
The words which touched me more especially were in the Epistle when Saint Paul tells the Romans that “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father”. I am fascinated by these words. These are powerful words. They speak of what happened to Jesus: He was dead, He is now alive. Not only that: they explain how this transformation happened. This was all the work of the Father, more precisely of the “glory of the Father”.
I am beginning to think that I will need the fifty days of Eastertide to ponder this statement. Tonight is maybe not the best time to attempt to elaborate on them. It is enough to remain with these words, to let them descend into our hearts and gently work in our souls. They tell us that Easter is, yes, the story of Jesus, but also that it has to do, inseparably and most importantly, with the Father. In other words, the Father is not the remote spectator of what happens to Jesus (and to us). He plays an essential role. He is involved through and through in the whole story of death and resurrection. He who created the world in the beginning by the word of His mouth is the one who raised Jesus from the dead, who effectuated His resurrection.
I have said enough. Jesus has a Father. We have a Father who is always at work to give life and create newness, to restore what is broken and to heal what is wounded, to raise us up from the manifold deaths that are part of our lives. This is His work, even His being, what the Bible calls His glory.
Keep this glory in your hearts, dear Brothers and Sisters. Go to sleep with the glory of the Father in the memory of your soul. And when you wake up, say tenderly to your Father: “I have risen from the dead, and I am with you always”. Even better, join us for Mass at 10 o’clock and listen to the most beautiful rendering of these very words in the Gregorian Chant Introit: Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum. Alleluia. This is the glory of the liturgy at its best, when it radiates through words, symbols and actions the very glory of the Father.