Dispel the darkness

There are scars on our own hearts from
relationships tragically torn apart

This day, too, is an incarnation. It is the stark embodiment of those horrible places we have been in recent years. The soul-emptying images of 9/11; the persistent death and dying in the war-torn Middle East, a cataclysmic tsunami in Japan.

And there are scars on our own hearts from relationships tragically torn apart, from too many premature deaths, from too many unanswered questions hurled into the face of God.

Today is the embodiment of all the, "WHY?" questions and epithets. Tody is the incarnation of our, "Where were you!!" incriminations.

Christ entombed and absent is the horror we imagine and the accusation we hurl at God.

Because, left to ourselves, we know no other possibility. 

May the light of Christ, rising in glory,

Dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.

                        Lighting of the candle. The Easter Vigil

Rise, let us leave this place.  The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven.  I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you.  The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

                          Ancient Liturgy

That he who by a tree once overcame, might by a tree be overcome.

 

--Bishop Allan Bjornberg