Published on 2 April 2024

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab, rector of the Sanctuary

Easter Vigil

Reading: Romans 6,3b-11

Gospel: Mark 16,1-7

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“Resurrected from the dead, Christ no longer dies, death no longer has power over him. » Something definitive happened for all humanity in the resurrection of Jesus: death no longer has power over him. In Jesus, death is dead and salvation now consists of being united with Jesus, of becoming ONE with him to benefit from this victory over death freely, without merit on our part.

This is what Paul is trying to make us hear: “All of us who through baptism were united to Christ Jesus, it was at his death that we were united through baptism. If therefore, by the baptism which unites us to his death, we have been placed in the tomb with him, it is so that we may walk in a newness of life. (ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν). On the day of our baptism, something irreversible also happened. On the day of our baptism we entered into this newness of life.

But the passage of time, the weariness of the days and the fact that we are not yet in fullness, mean that we must regularly return to the source to regain awareness of what God has done for us, and to renew in us the commitment of our whole life to live the life of Christ. The Lent that we have just experienced was a training, a preparation to enter the 50 days of the Easter season which begins today: the longest liturgical season of the year, the most important liturgical season of the year... because for us it is about learning to live again in this new way of life. The holy women go to the tomb. They take away the spices that they have prepared for the dead body of Jesus. They seek the Crucified: Are you looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified? But something changed: He is resurrected, he is not here. They want to return before the Passion, before the Cross, to find their Lord, even if he is crucified, even if he is in the tomb, it is still him in a certain way. But no, he's not there anymore. This speaks to a temptation we have: wanting to look back on our past, as if we had the possibility of reclaiming it and changing it. Time flows linearly towards the future: no one rebuilds their life, it's a misleading expression. We move on with our lives, sometimes differently, but we don't rebuild our lives. If there is sin in our life, it is always yesterday. This is why when I go to confession, I use the past tense and not the present tense, because the sin was yesterday. Today, God gives me grace. Today, God opens the future to me.

This resurrection of Jesus and the baptism which allows me to take part in it, and the confirmation which fills me with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, all this assures me that Salvation has come to me. And as I said last Sunday that Jesus cannot save himself as the high priests say, but that he allows himself to be saved by the Father, we must agree tobe saved and not to save ourselves. Our salvation is not at the end of our efforts: our salvation is at the origin of our efforts. It is because God has saved us in Jesus Christ that a love of gratitude and gratitude must flow from our hearts. And this love of gratitude leads to the conversion of our morals.

It is love in response that will make us do great things, it is not our efforts. And that is why we must abandon our sins to God. They were plunged with Christ into hell to remain there forever. We must then constantly welcome this salvation, constantly give thanks to God because we are saved, constantly abandon our sins to Christ to constantly beg for charity, in order to love God and our brothers as Jesus loves his Father and like us.

On this subject, Thérèse encourages us enormously; I will reread to you the very end of manuscript C, at the beginning of July 1897, no doubt:

Yes I feel it, even if I had on my conscience all the sins that could be committed, I would go, with a broken heart of repentance, to throw myself into the arm of Jesus, because I know how much He cherishes the prodigal son who returns to Him. It is not because the good God, in his considerate mercy, has preserved my soul from mortal sin that I elevate myself to Him through trust and love. MsC 36

The manuscript stops there, but in the Carnet Jaune, July 11, we have a clarification:

One might believe that it is because I have not sinned that I have such great trust in the good God. Please tell me, my Mother, that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence, I feel that all this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water thrown into a burning inferno.

The Crucified is no longer in the tomb, he is resurrected. Our sins are swallowed up in the death of Christ, and now he gives us part in his Spirit. “Don’t be scared! Are you looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified? He is resurrected: he is not here. This is the place where he was dropped off. And now go and tell his disciples and Peter: “He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, as he told you.” » Where can we meet the Risen One today? Where does he precede us? He precedes us in the hearts of all our contemporaries. It is by going to the Galilee of the nations, that is to say everywhere in the world, by going where we live and by announcing the resurrection of Jesus that we will meet him. It is not by keeping our eyes fixed on the tomb that we will see the Risen One, it is by announcing him to our brothers.

It is not by constantly returning to our sins, even serious and recurring ones, that we will receive salvation, it is by contemplating Christ.

It is not by turning on ourselves that we will find life, but it is by following the Risen One so that he may lead us, through his Passion and through his Cross, to the glory of his resurrection.

Amen