PROVIDENCE — In darkness, Catholics gathered in the mother church of the Diocese of Providence hear a deacon, illumined by a candle, recite the following words: “Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven…let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with the light from her Eternal King…”
It is with these words, taken from the “Exsultet” chant, that the faithful present are called to reflect upon how Our Lord, in his risen state, showed forth in the most explicit way his Glory as God made man, and filled the world with a particularly intense outpouring of his glory, thereby restoring life and drawing creation out of the corruption caused by sin. We are further called to reflect upon the radical nature of the love that lies behind the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, something on particular display when we pray to our Heavenly Father, “[T]o ransom a slave You gave away Your Son.”
We are therefore called to further reflect upon how what Our Lord did in his Resurrection liberates us from the slavery of sin, allowing us to do what we were rendered incapable of doing while we were in a state of sin, namely live lives pleasing to God: “The sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.”
Bishop Robert C. Evans celebrated the Easter Vigil. In his homily, he noted that the Resurrection does not promise us immediate release from suffering, pain or death, but rather calls our minds and hearts to a deeper contemplation of the fact that Our Lord has proven victorious over the forces of sin and death.
“The cause of our joy rests in Jesus’s triumph over death, not his escape from it,” Bishop Evans said, going on to note how the joys of the Resurrection are extended to us throughout history by the ministry of the Church: “We are made happy because the very arms stretched out on the Cross are now raised daily, to baptize us, to confirm us, to forgive us, to marry us, to ordain us, to anoint us, and, above all, to feed us with his holy body and blood, shattered and set upon the Cross, but made whole on Easter Sunday, when the darkness of death gave way to the bright promise of immortality.”
For the spiritual and moral message of Lent and the Easter Season to bear fruit, Bishop Evans noted, we need to couple contemplation of the events surrounding the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord with a close personal union with Him, seeing Lent and Easter as us accompanying Christ on His mission.
“For the forty days known as Lent, we have been on pilgrimage, journeying with Jesus and His Apostles. Where has this pilgrimage taken us? What have we seen along the way? … In these last days, we witnessed his triumphal entry in Jerusalem, the City of David…We sat at table within the Upper Room as he washed his apostles’ feet and instituted the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Eucharist. We wept with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed for the courage to do the Father’s will. We watched with shock as one of his own betrayed him…We followed him to Golgotha, and saw him fall under the weight of the Cross. … And so, we come to this day of profound joy, because he who has been taken from us, has been returned to us.”
Those who received the sacraments of initiation, including five who were baptized, one person received into full communion with the Catholic Church, and six others who received Confirmation, palpably experienced the mystery about which Bishop Evans spoke.
“… It’s one of those speechless points in your life. Words couldn’t really describe it. I’m dumbfounded, speechless,” said David Dagnozzi, 24, who attends Mass at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul and was one of the individuals baptized that evening. “I would definitely say, if you’re questioning it, trying out one of the [OCIA] classes where you can talk to someone who has a deep understanding of it is definitely worthwhile, definitely helps you.”
