Easter Vigil/Sunday Year C 2025

From Good Friday’s long Gospel narrative that should allow us to enter first-hand into the drama of Christ’s Passion, Easter Vigil takes us into another journey. Easter Vigil is where we grasp the full breath of the history of salvation. We began with creation, followed quickly by the Fall. But we heard, reading after reading, how despite our treachery God has kept close to us and He promised to save us. This covenant was sealed through the supreme sacrifice of His Son.

Both the Vigil and Sunday are celebrations of the Son’s victory. Through these three sacred days, we have come to appreciate that the price of sin is eternal death but we also acknowledge that Jesus, the Son of the Father, managed to conquer death. Not only has Jesus Christ saved us but He has also pledged the Eucharist, that is, the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, as the food and strength for the journey to eternity.

Let us rejoice because He has risen. As the Exultet commands, “Earth, shake off your lethargy”. Even if life were unfair and nothing seems to work for us, still we dare to enjoy because He has risen. If He had not, then our hope would be pointless and we would be condemned to an existence which is characterised by the “here and now”. Such a dreadful vision traps individuals in a miserable existence and since there is no Resurrection, we are doomed to live it up and are driven to extract as much as we can from this life. Without the Resurrection, we are lost and winning means being ahead of everyone. It is a kiasu (fear of missing out) and kiasi (fear of death) existence. [Have you ever felt so dissatisfied that you just need to have the last say or justify yourself because you have been misunderstood? Or you feel that only revenge can satisfy your rage. These are tell-tale signs of a life “condemned” to get the most of life].

This is why we need the assurance that Christ has truly Risen so that we do not need to fear losing out. How can we be sure? If we could, take some time to slow down and to contemplate the first place that He should go after Histriumphant resurrection. Sacred Scripture is mute in this respect but we can imagine the first person to whom He would appear—Mary, His Mother.

Visualise a woman who has pondered things in her heart. She does not have all the answers in the world and yet she may have had an instinct that Calvary was not the final chapter. It was just a matter of time and at the most unexpected moment, a powerful presence was felt. We know this because of His subsequent appearance to the 11, to the 500 and to Paul. He appeared when they least expected Him to. So, He came into Mary’s presence and the first words that greeted her were “I have conquered”.

An unrecorded scenario such as this is not alien to us. During those times when we are most lost and feel that God is absent, those are moments when He is most present. We will never lose out no matter how defeated we feel. Christ conquest over eternal death gives every soul hope and a chance at life eternal. Tonight, today, the behold the wood of the Cross on Friday has become Christ the Light. Thanks be to God that Sister Death has loosened her grip as the Crucified Christ rose victorious through the Resurrection.

It is an invitation to behold the empty tomb—a commanding image of death’s inability to hold onto us forever. Christ’s conquest over death not only gives us hope but more than that, the empty tomb is a symbol of Christ’s presence amongst the living. From utter and condemned sinners, we are now sinners who have been saved.

We remain hopeful for no matter what, we cannot be lost forever. But more than not being lost, the Resurrection belongs to Christ’s desire to shape creation according to His Sacred and Saving Heart. Coming as man, He identified with us but as God, He saved us and now invites us to be part of His mission. Baptised into this mission, we reshape the world by becoming His salt and His light.

What does that mean?

It is rather simple. We are not speaking here of ending racism or terrorism, solving world hunger or chronic poverty, reversing climate change or abolishing mass migration. These are righteous intentions. Right from the beginning and even before embarking and embracing these noble quests, we should become salt and light simply by expanding “human consideration”. How so? Our parking and our driving can be a good place to start. I am not criticising anyone who comes late for Mass, you have your reasons. However, a suggestion is to leave a bit earlier from home and that might help in avoiding bad driving and indiscriminate parking. If everyone here does it, imagine what sort of experience this Taman where we are planted would have of us who regularly jam up this place? The car-wash owner has repeatedly complained to me about some of us who park where they do business. And because they are Banglas, their request is shrugged off because they are supposedly less human than we are. What sort of messaging are we giving them?

The point is that the life of the Resurrection begins with me. Not with big projects out there. Modifying my behaviour will come a long way to affecting others. People are turned off not by Christ’s message but they are turned off by me, by me personally not living Christ’s message. No matter how great the message of the Resurrection, people will find its validation in the messengers.

We are the messengers of Christ and His Resurrection. Are we convincing to others? We are going to celebrate the Malaysian Pastoral Convention next year. It is a big event. What could be bigger is not the assembly in Majodi but rather here in the Cathedral. Can we have 50 baptisms next year? Is it logistically challenging? Yes. But it would be a fruit of our messaging and most of all, our witnessing. It would be great also to have more adults who had missed their Confirmation, coming to complete their initiation into the Church. Inviting couples adrift in the limbo of irregular unions who willingly come forward toseek regularisation of their marital status would be good progress. Finally, to welcome Catholics who have ventured away from the practice of the faith to return to their true and spiritual fold, the Church.

He is Risen, without a doubt. The empty tomb is proof and yet there is a disbelieving world that challenges us, His messengers, by asking where the fruits of Christ’s Resurrection are to be found. For that, we need to look into ourselves. As we exit the Cathedral later, ask this question. Am I ready to be His salt of the earth and His light of the world? Will the face of the Risen Christ greet those who encounter me?