Easter Vigil April 4, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03Tonight is the night.
2. 0:06The night of all nights.
3. 0:09The night that changed everything.
4. 0:13Over the past 3 days, we have walked
5. 0:15closely with Christ.
6. 0:19On Holy Thursday, we sat with him at the
7. 0:21table.
8. 0:23We heard him say, "This is my body.
9. 0:26This is my blood."
10. 0:30We watched him kneel, the Lord of the
11. 0:32universe, on his knees washing feet.
12. 0:37Teaching us that in the kingdom of God,
13. 0:39greatness does not wait to be served.
14. 0:42It bends low.
15. 0:44It serves.
16. 0:48On Good Friday, we stood at the foot of
17. 0:49the cross.
18. 0:51We saw innocence nailed to the wood.
19. 0:55We felt the silence and the catastrophic
20. 0:58loss.
21. 1:00We faced the truth of our own sins in
22. 1:02the suffering face.
23. 1:05We watched love bleed out.
24. 1:09Then on Holy Thursday,
25. 1:12the world held its breath.
26. 1:15The tabernacle empty.
27. 1:18The altar bare.
28. 1:20Everything suspended between death and
29. 1:23life.
30. 1:24As if creation itself did not know what
31. 1:27came next.
32. 1:30But tonight, everything moves.
33. 1:34Tonight, we gather around fire and
34. 1:36flame.
35. 1:37Around word and water. Altar and
36. 1:40Alleluia.
37. 1:43Tonight, we dare to proclaim what no
38. 1:45darkness in the history of the world has
39. 1:47ever been able to extinguish.
40. 1:50Jesus Christ is risen. Alleluia.
41. 1:55And here's why that changes everything.
42. 1:59When the women came to the tomb early
43. 2:01that first morning, they came with
44. 2:04spices.
45. 2:06They came to finish the burial properly.
46. 2:10The crucifixion had been rushed.
47. 2:13The Sabbath had cut things short.
48. 2:18They were going to do the last loving
49. 2:20thing that they knew that they could.
50. 2:23Anoint a body.
51. 2:25Say their last goodbye.
52. 2:29But when they arrived, the stone was
53. 2:31gone.
54. 2:32Rolled away.
55. 2:35Matthew tells us an angel rolled it.
56. 2:39And I need to stop there because I think
57. 2:41we've misread that moment our entire
58. 2:44lives.
59. 2:47We assume the stone was rolled away so
60. 2:50that Jesus could get out.
61. 2:54But think about that for a moment.
62. 2:57Do we really believe
63. 3:00that the one who walked on water,
64. 3:03who passed through locked doors, who
65. 3:06spoke a word and the dead came walking
66. 3:09out of the graves, needed help with a
67. 3:12rock?
68. 3:14That stone was never an obstacle for
69. 3:17him.
70. 3:19The rolling away of the stone was for
71. 3:20you.
72. 3:23It was rolled away so that you could
73. 3:25see.
74. 3:26So that you can walk up, look in, and
75. 3:29discover with your own eyes that the
76. 3:31place you thought was the end
77. 3:34isn't the end.
78. 3:37If you go to Jerusalem today, to the
79. 3:39Holy Sepulchre, it is empty.
80. 3:44The resurrection is not Jesus escaping
81. 3:47death.
82. 3:48It is Jesus Jesus conquering it.
83. 3:52Entering the darkest place imaginable
84. 3:54and walking out on the other side alive,
85. 3:58undefeated, and completely unmistakably
86. 4:01real.
87. 4:05Now to our catechumens,
88. 4:07I need to speak to you directly.
89. 4:11This day has finally arrived.
90. 4:15You've been preparing for it from for a
91. 4:17while now.
92. 4:19But I want to tell you something no
93. 4:20amount of preparation can fully capture.
94. 4:25Tonight is your night.
95. 4:28Not because you have everything figured
96. 4:30out.
97. 4:32Not because you've lived the perfect
98. 4:34life or arrived here without doubt still
99. 4:37trailing behind you.
100. 4:39You're be You're here because along the
101. 4:41way, through questions, through
102. 4:45searching,
103. 4:46through ordinary moments that turned out
104. 4:48to be anything but ordinary,
105. 4:52you heard something.
106. 4:54A voice.
107. 4:56And you followed it.
108. 4:58Maybe quietly.
109. 5:00Maybe Maybe with hesitation.
110. 5:03Maybe not even fully understanding what
111. 5:05you were saying yes to.
112. 5:08But you did say yes.
113. 5:11And tonight, heaven answers that yes.
114. 5:15In a few moment wa few moments, water
115. 5:18will be poured over you.
116. 5:20It will look too simple.
117. 5:23Too small for what it means.
118. 5:26But do not be deceived.
119. 5:30You will go to the waters carrying your
120. 5:32past, your sins, your wounds, your whole
121. 5:35complicated story.
122. 5:39But you will rise from that water brand
123. 5:41new.
124. 5:43Completely washed clean.
125. 5:46The same spirit that hovered over the
126. 5:48waters at creation,
127. 5:50the same spirit that raised Jesus from
128. 5:52the dead, will claim you tonight.
129. 5:55Seal you.
130. 5:57Live inside of you. Not temporarily. Not
131. 6:01conditionally.
132. 6:02But from this moment on, forever.
133. 6:06And then you will come forward to this
134. 6:08altar for the first time. And you will
135. 6:11receive not a symbol.
136. 6:13Not a ritual.
137. 6:15But a person.
138. 6:16Christ himself.
139. 6:18Given entirely for you so that his life
140. 6:21can now become your life.
141. 6:25Your name changes tonight.
142. 6:28Not legally. Eternally.
143. 6:31Tonight, your name is Christian.
144. 6:35And now to the rest of us.
145. 6:37Don't tune out.
146. 6:40This moment is for you, too.
147. 6:43There was a day, maybe decades ago, when
148. 6:45you had water poured over your head.
149. 6:49You may not remember it.
150. 6:51You may not have chosen it.
151. 6:54But it happened.
152. 6:55You were claimed for Christ.
153. 6:58You were marked. The same promises that
154. 7:01you will make tonight were made over
155. 7:04you.
156. 7:05And somewhere along the way, if we're
157. 7:07all honest, maybe you forgot about that.
158. 7:12Maybe the fire dimmed. Maybe faith
159. 7:15became routine. Something you do rather
160. 7:17than something that you are.
161. 7:20Maybe you've been living as though the
162. 7:22tomb is still sealed.
163. 7:25As though the stone was never rolled
164. 7:28away.
165. 7:31So I ask you, when we renew our
166. 7:33baptismal promises in a few moments,
167. 7:36don't just mumble through it.
168. 7:40Say them like someone who's known
169. 7:42exactly what they mean.
170. 7:45Reject sin. Not politely. Ferociously.
171. 7:50Profess your faith like someone who has
172. 7:53stocked their life on staked their life
173. 7:55on it. Because you have.
174. 7:58Step out of whatever tomb you've been
175. 8:00calling home.
176. 8:03And catechumens, when you rise from the
177. 8:06water, heaven will not be polite about
178. 8:08it.
179. 8:10Every time a soul moves from death to
180. 8:12life, it echoes into all eternity.
181. 8:16And that's for all of us, as well.
182. 8:19Let this night do what it's always meant
183. 8:21to do.
184. 8:23Let it shake you awake. Let it call you
185. 8:26back to the thing that you said you
186. 8:28believed, but maybe stopped living like
187. 8:31you did.
188. 8:33Because we are not Easter people because
189. 8:35we love the music, the lilies, the
190. 8:37beautiful flowers, and the church.
191. 8:41We are Easter people because our God has
192. 8:44wrapped his burial cloth, placed in that
193. 8:47cold, dark tomb, and has walked back
194. 8:50out.
195. 8:52Because love refused to stay dead.
196. 8:56Because in Christ, every wound can be
197. 8:58healed. Every sin can be forgiven. Every
198. 9:01stone moved. Every grave emptied.
199. 9:07Don't keep standing at the entrance of
200. 9:09the tomb God has already conquered for
201. 9:11you.
202. 9:13Don't keep calling home the place Christ
203. 9:15has already walked out of.
204. 9:18Step out of the tomb. Step out of the
205. 9:21cave. Out of sin. Out of fear. Out of
206. 9:25the version of your life that is smaller
207. 9:27than what God has promised you.
208. 9:30Because your past is not your prison.
209. 9:32Your wounds are not your identity. And
210. 9:35your grave is not your future.
211. 9:38The stone was there was never there to
212. 9:41keep him in.
213. 9:43It was always there for you so that when
214. 9:46it it was moved, you would know.
215. 9:50You would know that nothing.
216. 9:52Not your sins. Not your shame. Not your
217. 9:56failure. Not even death itself gets the
218. 9:59final word.
219. 10:01Christ is risen.
220. 10:03He is risen indeed.
221. 10:05Now, it's up to us to go out and live
222. 10:08that good news. Amen.