The Easter Vigil is considered to be the Church’s night of nights. It is the night when we celebrate Jesus’ Passover. Not the angel of death’s passing over the homes of the Israelites in the early covenant, but Jesus’ passing over from death to new life in the new and everlasting covenant.
It certainly was the night of nights for our parish community when we celebrated the Christian Initiation of our four adult candidates; Mahnaz, Nahid, Shahin and Veronica. After many months of preparation, they now came to the font of life to enter fully into the death and resurrection of Jesus. As the epistle reading that evening from Romans said:
When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.
This reading is proclaimed every year at the Easter Vigil to remind us of the power of the baptisms we are about to celebrate. Their entering into a new Christian life renews our Christian life. I have not encountered a single person at the Mass that was not moved and inspired by the courage and boldness our then candidates showed. To profess your faith and willingly seek out baptism in such a way reminds us of the conviction with which we must live the mission of Christ and the Church.
This inspiring baptismal celebration then lead us to renew our own baptismal promises and proceed ourselves to the font and bless ourselves with the same water; we continue to yearn for the eternal life gained for us all.
This baptism was then confirmed through the laying on of hands and the anointing with chrism. The sacrament of confirmation completes baptism and celebrates the candidate being filled with the Holy Spirit. This week we begin preparations for this same sacrament with our younger parishioners. Please pray for the children who will begin preparations for Confirmation, and for their parents who have their information meeting this Tuesday.
Liturgy 