Easter Vigil 2024, St. John’s Cathedral

Homily Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy

Mary Magdalene and the women went to the tomb wanting to do an act of love, anointing the dead body of Jesus. But something unexpected happens. They find the large stone rolled away and a man gives them a message ‘Do not be afraid, Jesus has risen!...  go and tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee”; He awaits you in Galilee”. The women suddenly become the first to be called and sent out to bring the message about the Risen Jesus to the disciples. They are to be the first missionaries, the first evangelizers.

Called and Sent out. What messages are the women giving us today?

The first obvious point is that Jesus is not dead. He is risen!  Christian Faith is not an album of memories. It is not just a story about Jesus two thousand years ago. It is not an outdated religion. Jesus is alive here and now. To believe in Jesus risen is the foundation of our faith. St. Paul was clear about this: “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”. What is the Risen Jesus now doing? He is continuing his mission of peace and reconciliation. And he is involving us in it. When we gather in his name, in love for one another, we sense his presence among us, making of us instruments of his work in building up a new humanity. At Easter we are invited to really renew our belief that, despite everything, Jesus Risen is really working to make enemies begin to speak to one another, helping those who are estranged to join hands in friendship, and by quenching mercy, pushing nations to seek the way of peace together.

The second message follows from this – it is always possible to begin again. The women had witnessed Jesus’ death; it seemed the end of their journey with him who they had followed from Galilee. But now they find themselves beginning again to go out with hope and share good news. The famous English writer, G.K. Chesterton wrote: ‘Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.’ It’s true for Christianity as a whole, but it’s true for each one of us. God can always break into our personal history opening new possibilities. No matter what situation of sin or failure or darkness we find ourselves in, it’s possible to always begin again because Jesus has conquered all sin, evil and darkness. His triumph offers us the possibility in each moment of finding a way out of any “grave” situation that threatens us, starting again to hope, to love, to go outside ourselves towards others.

The third message from the women is that we can find Jesus risen in our everyday life. The man tells the women to go and tell Peter and the disciples that they will find Jesus in Galilee. Galilee was where most of the disciples had first met Jesus in the ordinary everyday of their lives. Remember Galilee was a region that was very different from, and very far from the ritual purity of Jerusalem, the great city with the Temple. Jesus began his mission in Galilee, bringing his message to those struggling to live from day to day, the excluded, the vulnerable and the poor. By sending the disciples to Galilee to meet Jesus risen, the disciples are being given a clear message – Jesus is beginning again from their ordinary everyday life. The Easter message is that Jesus always goes before us in life, and we can find him in surprising and expected ways in the ordinary everyday life, right in the messiness of our lives, perhaps through people or events or circumstances we least associate with holy things. Each of us can find Jesus in our “Galilee”.

With these messages of hope from the women, let’s listen then to the words of Pope Francis who concluded his Easter Vigil homily a few years ago as follows: “Dear sister, dear brother: if on this night you are experiencing an hour of darkness, a day that has not yet dawned, a light dimmed or a dream shattered, go, open your heart with amazement to the message of Easter: “Do not be afraid, he has risen!  He awaits you in Galilee”.  Your expectations will not remain unfulfilled, your tears will be dried, your fears will be replaced by hope. For the Lord always goes ahead of you, he always walks before you. And, with him, life always begins again”.