The Easter Vigil: Christ Goes Before Us
March 30th Readings Reflection: Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
Tonight’s Gospel recounts how three women, disciples of Jesus, went to His tomb after the Sabbath to anoint His Body. The angel who greeted the amazed women at the vacant tomb told them that Jesus “is going before you to Galilee; there you will see [H]im as [H]e told you.”
Today, the Church celebrates the great Paschal Vigil. The Mass this evening is supremely beautiful, beginning in darkness and silence and ending in light and the joyful noise of bells and music. Today’s liturgy is richly symbolic on many different levels, but I would like to highlight one particular way that it is a symbol of our spiritual lives.
In parishes that use the 1962 Roman Missal, the subdeacon or an acolyte carries the Crucifix at the beginning of the Easter Vigil Mass. During the blessing of the Easter fire, the Crucifix is present as the priest blesses the fire and the Paschal Candle. The Crucifix is near the front of the procession as the servers and priests enter the church, chanting Lumen Christi, “the Light of Christ.” As the light spreads throughout the nave in the candles of the faithful, the Crucifix remains near the altar, where it stays even while the triumphant Exsultet is chanted.
There is a beautiful symbolism in retaining the use of the processional Crucifix at the Paschal Vigil. As the angel told the women in today’s Gospel, “[Christ] is going before you to Galilee.” In a literal sense, when the processional Crucifix is used at the Easter Vigil Mass, the image of Christ on the Cross goes before us as light fills the church. This physical light represents the light of Christ dispelling the darkness of sin and death, which He accomplished through His Passion and Death on the Cross.
On a spiritual level, Jesus Christ has gone before us in His Via Crucis, showing us the path to the Resurrection through the Cross. As the beautiful Good Friday antiphon reminds us, Christ “has redeemed the world” through His Cross. On this most sacred Paschal Vigil, we commemorate Christ’s triumph over sin and death, which He achieved through His bitter Passion and Death.
Christ indeed goes before us by showing us the way of the Cross; however, His death was not the end, and it is not the end for us, either. On this most holy night, Our Lord rose triumphantly from the dead, opening the Gates of Heaven so that man might no longer be a slave to sin. Jesus Christ loves us so much that He chose to die for our sins, in order that through His glorious Resurrection, we too might one day rise again with Him. Today’s beautiful liturgy should fill us with joy and hope as we seek to follow where Christ leads and, God willing, one day reach our heavenly home.
“Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King; let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.” (Excerpt from the Exsultet)
Amen! The Lord bless you and bless us all!