Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: This is the night. This is the moment of salvation

Saturday, April 8, 2023

This is the night. This is the moment of salvation - the Resurrection, our strength and hope

Wishing you all a wonderful, blessed Easter. Christ is Risen as he says, Alleluia Alleluia!!

Just finished serving at the Easter Vigil Mass, and there is a beauty to it, that no matter how you’re feeling or what you are going through - some part of it will touch your heart. The fire, the paschal candle, the readings, the songs, the bells, the incense, the candles, the flowers, the homily, the Eucharist or the other people gathered in the pews celebrating together with you of the hope that unites us - whatever it is, some part of us will speak to you in whatever way you need to hear right now.

This has been a tough Lent for me , there has been a lot of personal struggles, issues resurfacing or disappointments that have made me feel hurt, angry and disappointed. But no matter what life throws my way, no matter how much I struggle or sin or fail or even be unfaithful - Jesus is always faithful (2 Timothy 2:18). He loves me, He loves you - the love He has for us is so real it killed Him (Galatians 2:20. Yet He is still alive and is with us, telling us to take refuge in His wounds where He will heal us, restore us, sanctify us and give us shelter. But even more than that - He will transform us! (2 Corinthians 3:18). He will one day make us like He is, and this is the hope that gives hs strength!!

Tonight, it was the words of the Exsultet that spoke to me and that I needed to hear. Words of joy, beauty and hope. Reassurance that even in the darkness of pain and hurt - He is in control and working out all things for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28)

This is the night. The moment of salvation is now (Hebrews 4:7-11). Not yesterday or tomorrow but now - the eternal now of Christ alive and Risen who loves us and is with us always. We have no need to fear or despair, He is Risen and alive!! Because He lives, I can face tomorrow 🙏🙏

——-

This is the night,

when Christ broke the prison-bars of death

and rose victorious from the underworld.

O wonder of your humble care for us!

O love, O charity beyond all telling,

to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,

destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault

that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

The sanctifying power of this night

dispels wickedness, washes faults away,

restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners.

O truly blessed night,

when things of heaven are wedded to those of earth

and divine to the human.

1 comment:

AnonymousApril 16, 2023 at 2:19 PM
Wonderful reflection! Thanks for sharing! Indeed Easter vigil mass Readings remind us all of our own salvation history - from birth till today.
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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.