The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter 2019

Tonight, at the Easter Vigil the Easter Triduum reaches its high point. The liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council clearly reinstated the Easter Vigil as the “mother of all vigils” (St. Augustine), celebrated “during the holy night when Christ rose from the dead.” The Easter Vigil is the richest liturgical celebration of the entire Liturgical Year consisting of numerous components: The Liturgy of Light; The Liturgy of the Word; The Liturgy of Baptism; The Liturgy of the Eucharist. This whole liturgical event is like a brilliant diamond possessing numerous facets. A single reflection on this liturgy can never encapsulate the richness of the whole, so let me offer a core idea of the feast that has helped me to gradually taste this rich fare that the Church offers us once each year at the Easter Vigil.

Nine readings are assigned for the Easter Vigil (more than any other liturgical feast): seven from the Old Testament and two from the New. The Epistle is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might live in newness of life.” (Rom 6: 3-11)

Through our baptism, we became Christ (St. Augustine), not Christ the Head but Christ the Members of the Body of Christ. With Christ the Head we form one Body of Christ which St. Augustine calls the “Totus Christus,” the Whole Christ. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist and offer ourselves in union with Christ’s once-for-all offering we become “all the more that which we already are” (St. Augustine), that is, members of the “Totus Christus.” The goal of the whole Christian life consists of our becoming more and more, one with Christ! Finally, our death serves as our last offering, which leads us into an eternal life we call “heaven” where we shall be one with Christ in God in “newness of life” (Rom. 6: 11) forever!