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EASTER VIGIL: DON'T BE AFRAID OF GOD'S SURPRISES. “HE ALWAYS SURPRISES US!”

Vatican City, 31 March 2013 (VIS) – Yesterday at 8:30 in the evening, the Holy Father presided at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica. The liturgy began in the church atrium with a blessing of the new fire and the preparation of the Paschal candle. After processing to the altar with the lit candle and the singing of the “Exsultet”, the celebration continued with the Liturgy of the Word, the Baptismal Liturgy, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

During the Vigil, the Pope administered the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist) to four catechumens: one from Italy, one from Albania, one from Russia, and one from the United States. After the Gospel was read, the Holy Father dedicated his homily to discussing the holy women who went to the tomb and found it empty. “We are afraid of God's surprises! He always surprises us!” Following is the full text of his homily:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Gospel of this luminous night of the Easter Vigil, we are the first to meet the women who went to Jesus' tomb with spices to anoint his body (cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, of affection, of love. It is a traditional gesture for a beloved person who has died, just as we would do too. They had followed Jesus, listened to him, felt themselves to be understood in their dignity, and they had accompanied him to the end, on Calvary, an at the moment he was taken down from the cross.”

“We can imagine how they felt as they made their way to his tomb: a certain sadness, sorrow because Jesus had left them and was dead, his story was over. Now they would go back to their previous lives. But the women continued to feel love and their love for Jesus compelled them to go to his tomb. At this point, however, something completely unexpected happens, something new, which upsets their hearts and their plans and which will upset their whole lives: They see the stone rolled away from the tomb. They draw near and they do not find the Lord's body. It is a reality that leaves them perplexed, doubtful, full of questions: 'What is happening?', What does this all mean?' (cf. Lk 24:4).”

“Isn't that also what happens to us when something truly new occurs in our everyday lives? We stop, don't understand, don't know how to handle it. New things often frighten us, even the newness that God brings us, the newness that God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: we often prefer to hold on to our sureties, to stop at the tomb, to stop at just thinking about the departed one who, in the end, lives only in our memory like great persons of the past. We're afraid of God's surprises. Dear brothers and sisters, in our lives we are afraid of God's surprises! He always surprises us! That is how the Lord is!”

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