Easter Vigil 11 April 2009
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this Vigil, the Mother of all Holy Vigils (St Augustine, Sermon 219), we have listened to the Word of God in Scripture. It is the experience of the Church, and of monks in particular, that singing psalms and listening to the Scriptures in the quiet of the night is a different experience to the same kind of activity at other times of the day. Somehow, our minds are more sensitive, receptive in a different way, as we keep vigil for the Lord. With that thought in mind let us quietly consider the texts we have heard and ask ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us.
I suppose that the simple answer is that the Lord has revealed himself. If we reflect on the passages of Scripture and the liturgical texts we have heard this evening we learn about God because it is the will of God to reveal himself to us so that we can know him and love him.
The opening chapter of the book of Genesis reveals that God created a beautiful world which was good because it revealed the Creator who himself is good. The climax of God's creative work was to bring to birth humankind and of them it was said, 'God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them' (Genesis 1.27). God gave mankind a command to care for the world that he had made so that the world might continue to be a source of his blessings. In the opening hymn of this Vigil, the Exsultet, we heard of the fault of Adam, we learnt that mankind chose to disobey God and that this sin disrupted the creation so that mankind experienced pain and suffering and death; and, more significantly, alientation from God and so stood in great need of a Saviour. In the readings which follow we have been given a series of snapshots, as it were, in which we see God trying to enable us to use our free will in obedience to the Father once more so that we might be reconciled to him.
Abraham shows us the way. He is, according to the Apostle Paul, the great example of the man of faith; the man who trusts God, who is obedient to God's commands. Abraham is the man who left his father's house and set out for the land which God would show him. He is the man who believed that God would give him a son even when he and his wife were past the age when children are usually born. He is the man who trusted God even when God asked him to sacrifice his only son. He knew that everything he possessed had been given by God and he was willing to give all these gifts back to God. Abraham is an example for us. He shows us that a relationship of trust can exist between mankind and a God who remains unseen; and he reminds us that everything we possess, no matter how hard we have worked for it, is ultimately God's gift.
It is, perhaps, not so difficult to believe in God when things are going well - but how do we cope with adversity? Do we still believe in a loving God when we are torn from our homes, from the land we call our own, and enslaved by a foreign nation? It is not easy, and the example of Israel suggests that many of us would fail the test, preferring to put our trust in the gods of our conquerors - but the history of Israel reveals that God kept those who remained faithful in mind and delivered them from oppression.
Whether we are in freedom or in adversity, the Lord our God asks only that we be faithful to him, living in fidelity to his covenant. This word 'covenant' is important: it tells us that our God is not an abitrary, capricious God but rather a God who meets us in the reality of our lives, desiring only what is good for us, seeking to guide us to have the same love for him as he has for us. At the heart of the covenant is a plea that we should cease being self-centred and become God-centred instead. But this fundamental re-orientation has proved very difficult for mankind, as the story of Israel and our more recent history makes painfully clear. Nevertheless, obedience to the commands of the Lord brings life whereas disobedience brings death.
The history of the Chosen People is the story of all men and women. When we are in need we turn to God and he hears our voice and saves us, inviting us to come closer and know him more completely. But when our moment of need has passed we tend to rely on our own strength, our own knowledge, our own sense of direction - and generally speaking we fall back into self-centred, sinful ways. Nevertheless, with the benefit of hindsight and with the eyes of faith it is possible to see a steady development, a clear direction, in the history of the people of the First Covenant which reached its fulfilment in the life of Jesus Christ. He is the one foretold by Ezechiel who possesses a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone; the one who has a new spirit; the one who keeps God's laws, who respects and practices God's judgements (see Ez 37.27). In him we see mankind as mankind was meant to be. In him God is made visible. Now, when we are invited to know and love God we are not called to know and love what we cannot see but rather to know and love a person who may be known by anyone provided only that they have ears that want to hear, eyes that want to see - for we are still free to reject the evidence of God's loving kindness which has been placed before us.
God's love for us is made clear by the fact that he sent his beloved Son into the world in human flesh like ours. God's Son lived our human life as it should be lived - relieving the suffering of his brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters; bringing the experience of God's love to all mankind. The completeness of his love was made clear when he shared the reality of human suffering and death. This sharing in our suffering and death in some way hidden from us destroyed the separation between God and man which is the result of sin: we are now, once again, the beloved children of God, invited to share in the divine life. We know this is true because Christ did not moulder in the grave but rather three days after his crucifixion and death he was raised from the dead - and the tomb, as we heard in the Gospel of Mark, was found to be empty. In the coming days we will hear the Gospel accounts of his apperances to his disciples: the tomb was empty because Jesus is alive, living now in glorified flesh in the presence of his Father.
We are invited to share in this life. Jesus did not live among us for himself and for his time alone. He lived among us to make it possible for all men and women to live truly, fully, human lives. These lives are not lived according to a book of rules; rather we are called to know and love Jesus Christ and so to follow faithfully in his footsteps. We are invited. We are called. If we respond to this invitation, this call, our lives will have to change - for God's ways and human ways are rather different! But we should not be afraid for Christ has left us in his Church the means by which we enter into this life, the possibility of forgiveness when we go astray, the foods we need to nourish us on our pilgrimage through this life.
Tonight we are asked just one question: will we resolve to follow in the footsteps of our Saviour, rejecting the allure of sin and all its easy promises, and embracing instead the new life of Christ which began with our baptism? Each year we renew our baptismal commitment. For some Christians tonight will be the first time that they make their baptismal promises: the moment when they receive the washing of the water of baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the first time they receive the food of life, the Body and Blood of Christ. For many Christians, in the nature of things, this will be the last time they renew baptismal promises before they meet their Saviour in paradise. Let tonight be, for all of us here, a moment of truth when we open ourselves fully to the loving kindness of God in order that he may make of us a new Creation for the salvation of our world.
Rt Rev Cuthbert Madden OSB, Abbot of Ampleforth