4/19/2014 – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil Mass – Matthew 28:1-10

     “Do not be afraid!
I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.”   What an interesting way we hear the news of Christ's resurrection announced to us in the words of an angel in today’s Gospel.  It’s a message that is so simple, so straight-forward.  This news of Christ’s resurrection was so surprising in itself, but it's even more shocking that it's first announced to a group of women who have come to see his tomb, rather than the chosen group of Jesus' apostles.  This group of women flee in great haste and great excitement to the disciples, in order to tell them this Good News.  These women had thought that Christ was the one – that he would be the Messiah who would save them.  But he couldn’t even save himself, so they thought.  He himself died a horrible and violent death on the cross.  But the love that this group of broken women had for Jesus as their friend and as their teacher was stronger than their expectations and hopes that had died on the cross.

     We seek Jesus in different ways in our lives.  We seek Jesus in our questions and in our doubts, in our joys and in our sorrows, in moments of edification and understanding, in our fears and in our dreams.  Hopefully we have experienced God’s presence with us in different ways during our Lenten journey.   Perhaps we have had particular struggles and challenges during our Lenten journey this year.   In fact, I remember once as a priest having a parishioner tell me that as we approached Ash Wednesday, she was hoping for the best Lent ever.  She had planned out all kinds of Lenten disciplines that should would undertake.  Everything was so well-organized and planned out. However, went Lent was over, she saw nothing but struggle and frustration and disappointment.  Even if our Lenten journey has been a difficult one, we are still to experience a sense of hope, joy, and resurrection as we celebrate Easter together as a community of faith.  Our Easter sacraments that we will be celebrating tonight and in the next couple of weeks help reveal the joy of the Easter season to us.  This evening, in just a few moments, we will be celebrating the entrance into the Church for the candidates and catechumens in our RCIA program.  Together with some of the children of our catechumens, we will have a total of 9 children and adults baptized this evening.  In the next few weeks the children in our 2^nd grade religious education class will receive first communion and our 11^th graders will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Kopacz right here in Tupelo. Our Easter joy will be over-flowing in these sacraments.

      This weekend and throughout the Easter season, God will reveal himself to us in different moments in our lives in experience of resurrection joy.  God will verify to us in different moments in our daily lives that Jesus Christ indeed has been risen from the dead.  Let this be a reality that fills our lives with joy.