With Us Always
In this beautiful homily for the Easter Vigil, Year C, Father Hanly invites us to celebrate the fact that Jesus is now with us always.
Skip to Recording or Written Homily.
Readings for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter, Year C
- First Reading: Genesis 1:1–2:2 or 1:1, 26-31
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35, or Psalms 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22
- Second Reading: Genesis 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9, 10-13, 15-18
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11
- Third Reading: Exodus 14:15–15:1
- Responsorial Psalm: Exodus 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18
- Fourth Reading: Isaiah 54:5-14
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
- Fifth Reading: Isaiah 55:1-11
- Responsorial Psalm: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
- Sixth Reading: Baruch 3:9-15, 32–4:4
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 11
- Seventh Reading: Ezekiel 36:16-28
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4, or Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6, or Psalms 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
- Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
- Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 118:1-2, 16, 17, 22-23
- Gospel: Luke 24:1-12
Recording
Written Homily
In the gospel that we read just now, the women came to anoint and bury Jesus and found an empty tomb, and they saw two men sitting there who told them Jesus had risen.
They ran to tell the disciples to announce the astounding news. But the disciples thought it nonsense, no doubt because it came from the women.
It was a difficult, a terrible time for them all. Jesus, their Lord and master, crucified! The death of all their hopes and dreams, and the shame that they had run away, leaving Jesus among his enemies to suffer and die alone … except for his mother and a few friends.
And yet, in his final agony, he was heard to say from the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And this was to be his final gesture of self-sacrificing love and service to us all.
The saviour of the world, and we unable to raise a hand to save him. “Lord have mercy on us all.”
Péguy, the poet, once wrote about the “two arms of God,” the right arm of Justice, and justice must be served, and the left arm of mercy, mercy that always forgives.
And when Jesus cries out on the cross “Father, forgive them they know not what they do,” his Father is left no choice, silenced by His Son who asks for mercy and forgiveness for us all.
Today, we do not celebrate Jesus’ rising from the dead to go back to some heaven from where he came. We celebrate something more.
Jesus comes to stay. To share our lives with us, not to teach us how to die and go and leave us, but how to live and love in this often sad and weary world.
That is why the Father gives his Son to us, that we might never be alone again without his loving care.
Jesus knows our aches and pains and all our sorrows too, our need to love and to be loved, to reach out and care for one another as he himself has always cared for us.
Jesus has promised us “to be with us always” and we’ll never be alone again.
“Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
I thought, this evening, to invite you to join with me in a very lovely prayer by Lucien Deiss: “Help Us O Risen Lord.” The refrain is: “Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.”
Help us, O Risen Lord,
to proclaim your resurrection
by bringing good news to the poor
and healing the hearts that are broken.
Everyone: Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.
Help us, O Risen Lord,
to proclaim your resurrection
by feeding those who are hungry
and clothing those who are naked.
Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.
Help us, O Risen Lord,
to proclaim your resurrection
by releasing the captives of injustice
and all those who are imprisoned by their own sins.
Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.
Help us, O Risen Lord,
to proclaim your resurrection
by welcoming the strangers
and by visiting the lost and lonely ones among us.
Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.
Help us, O Risen Lord,
to proclaim your resurrection
by bringing your peace to those who are in trouble
and bringing your joy to those who are in sorrow.
Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us.
Prayer to the Father:
God, our Father,
who raised your Son from the dead,
help us to understand, we beg you,
that we conquer our own death
and rise with Jesus today
when we learn to live and walk in his love.
Love for a Father who gave his only begotten Son that we might be healed and saved,
love for a Son who has risen and will always be with us,
and love for the Spirit of love that brings us all into one family.
We ask you this grace through Jesus Christ,
who died for our sins,
who rose for our life,
and lives with us for ever and ever.
Happy Easter!