Most of you know I like stories. I write short stories and enter them in
contests. I tie stories to scriptures in homilies to build a message. At this
Easter Vigil, I won’t.
I’m not, because we
heard in the readings an outline the greatest story: the story of God’s work in
the world.
A story beginning
at creation when God looked at everything found it very good. It goes on to the
words of the prophets in Exodus, Ezekiel, and Isaiah that describe God’s
protection, goodness, and promises. The it tells us of the ultimate good news
of Jesus Christ in Romans.
The climax of this
story is the gospel, where we find the empty tomb and the promise that, His is
risen, Christ is Alive, and “He is going before us.”
My friends this is
the best part of the story. This is where we find the excitement of the risen
Christ.
The excitement is
in this new promise of the empty tomb. The tomb is not our final destiny.
The excitement is
in the promise of our salvation. A salvation where we are forgiven not matter
what our sins.
Pope Francis calls
it “the excitement of Christ, the everlasting today of God.”
Tonight, three other
people will stand before us telling a story. One story is through baptism and
two stories through confirmation. These are the stories of the excitement of
the risen Christ – the empty tomb, the promise of salvation, and the joy Christ
- the everlasting today of God.
No, I am not going
to tell you a story, but, I am asking you to tell a story. Tell a story with
your lives. Each of you be a witness; tell
your story in Christ to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment