Easter Vigil
2021
My friends,
When the sky is overcast for a very long time it becomes harder to believe that the sun still shines brightly as ever above it.
“Waiting for Godot” was Samuel Beckett’s title for his play which is set in an entirely bleak and depressing landscape. Its dialogue is just between two characters and their exchanges are marked by a sense of hopelessness and tedium. All by way of saying, this is all there is. Life is without meaning, it is absurd and ‘Godot’ never turns up anyway.
Some see it as one of the finest plays of the 20th century because it captured so well the spirit of the age – which in the words of some is the declaration that “God is dead”. That we should accept the fact and get on with living without the distraction of faith.
When the sky is overcast for a very long time it becomes harder to believe that the sun still shines brightly as ever above it.
When experiencing darkness of any kind in life it is easy to lose hope, it is easy to doubt the existence of the light. Sickness, sadness, suffering and death are all encountered along life’s journey but so are gladness and joy, health and wellbeing, friendship and love, healing and hope, humour and song.
Finding God in all things … was the inspiration of St. Ignatius of Loyola, our own Patrick Kavanagh spoke of recognising God in the “bits and pieces” of everyday.
This gaze, this lens, this way of seeing life comes from knowing with the certainty of faith that the sun shines still above the overcast sky and in due time shines through to put the darkness and shadow in context.
This Easter Vigil night exudes in word, song and symbol these truths we experience so intensely and deeply through our faith in the Word who was made flesh for our sake and whom we in joy and exultation proclaim as the Risen Lord.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
