Easter Vigil

This year’s Triduum is special. It is because we live the Passover again. And we live the Passover again in two senses. First, we live again the original Passover the Israel people of old had in the land of Egypt. Second, we live again the Passover of Christ Jesus. We live the Passover again, thanks to this pandemic that is sweeping all the world at this moment.

On the night of the original Passover in the time of Moses, the power of God swept the whole land of Egypt. The angel of death demanded the lives of all the firstborn males in the land. All Israel people were hiding in their homes while hoping the angel of God passed over their homes seeing the mark of the blood of the lamb. All people in the land of Egypt were helpless. The power of God decided who to live and who to die. God revealed his power; the man was stripped of his pride. God revealed He is the Lord; everything else is vain and empty.

Under this pandemic of COVID-19, we feel helpless. In many countries, the only thing people can do is to stay home. And we have to wait. We realize how humble existence we are. We are not different from those people on the night of the first Passover in the land of Egypt. We are not our own masters. The man cannot determine the fate of his life.

The pharaoh did not listen to Moses. He refused to release Israel to worship God. It’s because he didn’t want to lose their economic value. He could not give up their free service for his wealth.

This time, we can see and hear many are so worried about the economy under this pandemic. Why? It’s because much of our economy is built upon debts just as the Egyptian economy was built upon slavery. We cannot let go of these debts. Otherwise, we will be bankrupted. Some people want to choose to reopen the economy while risking the lives of the vulnerable population. Ironically, our economy serves money itself. If we choose the economy over life, we will have to admit our god is money. How really we live the Passover again in this time!

On the night of the Passover of Christ Jesus, after the burial of Jesus, all his disciples were scattered and hiding. As the darkness covered the whole land of Judaea on the day of the Crucifixion, the disciples and followers of Jesus entered the darkness of fear and dread. They were in the darkness without their Lord. The absence of the Lord should have been so painful.

In this pandemic, we enter the same darkness of the absence of Christ. You cannot see him anymore at the Mass; I cannot see my congregation. Hiding at home, in this dark moment, pain pierces our hearts. We feel abandoned by the Lord. The disciples would have felt the same and asked as Peter had asked, “Lord, where are you going? Where have you gone? Where are you?”

We do not know when this pandemic will end. We don’t know if life would be ever the same after this pandemic, either. We don’t know if our parish life will go back as before. “Where are you, Lord?” We ask, too.

When you read the readings of Easter Vigil tonight, you will realize these are promises and covenants. God’s promises and covenants are messages of hope. This hope is realized in Christ. Christ Jesus realizes this hope by his resurrection.

On the morning of the resurrection, the disciples and followers of Jesus went to his tomb. But they could not find him. They were still in darkness of sorrows. They were looking for his boy but only found the empty tomb. Who found him? No one. Instead, it was Jesus who found them!

We might also find only the empty tomb if we hold on to our past memories. Our Lord is risen. He will find us first as he revealed himself to Mary Magdalene. He will wait for us first as he went up to Galilee first and waited for his disciples. It is not our eyes that will find him. It will be his light that will reveal him.