Celebrate the Relationship!

The texts for the Celebration of the Vigil Mass for Easter in the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer a rich review of the history of the relationship between the Divine and humanity from creation to the present. The Easter Vigil is the time when the people seeking communion with the Roman Catholic Church are welcomed and receive the Sacraments of Initiation. The Scripture proclaimed presents


• Creation

• Faith of Abraham

• Exodus from Egypt

• Return from Exile in Babylon

• The Nature of Wisdom

• Conversion of the heart

• Baptized into Christ

• The Resurrection

This journey through the Sacred Texts establishes the consistent message of the desire of the Divine to be in intimate relationship with humanity. The nature of the Divine is both immanent and transcendent. The Immanence is the Divine dwelling within humanity. Our indwelling Spirit resonates with the Spirit which moved on the water in Genesis, which is the source of the Wisdom described by Baruch. It is the connection with the Resurrected Jesus through which Paul proclaims we are alive to God through Jesus Christ. Transcendence is that Divine essence which activates the faith of Abraham to trust that the will of God will be accomplished even though the sacrifice of Isaac and the patriarch of many nations seem to be mutually exclusive. It is the mighty hand and strong arm with which the Israelites were freed from Egypt. The death into which we are baptized with Jesus is physical and as we continue our spiritual journey there are many deaths as our hearts of stone are transformed to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36). These deaths are opportunities for resurrections of our spirit to greater intimacy with the Divine through the Life of Jesus Christ. He Lives!