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Homily for the Vigil of Easter:Every one of us, at one point or another in life, has to say, "Yes, Lord, I trust." And then we see the power of God, as if through Moses--fighting on our behalf, turning away the armies that would hold us back, dividing the waters that seem so treacherous for us. God--who has called you, created you for a purpose, given you a mission in life--says "I will fight to see that this mission is accomplished and nothing holds you back, nothing keeps you from the love I have for you, nothing keeps you from my arms, which will hold you tight"--and in whose presence you will find perfect love. 

Father Eseke considers three of the things that escaped destruction in the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. First,"The crown of thorns is a beautiful symbol of the paradox of the Passion of Christ Jesus-- in one object, you have thorns, and it's also a crown. It's a contradiction. Yet it reminds us of the true essence of what we celebrate tonight."

Tonight is unlike all other nights in that it is, using the words from our liturgy, the Lord's Passover, and it is the inauguration of the priesthood of the New Covenant, and it is the institution of the Eucharist, the representation of the sacrifice of Christ and the highest prayer the Church as to offer. That all of this was done at the Passover Seder is no coincidence at all. 

The crowds who cheered Jesus as He entered Jerusalem, or cheered Him on to the cross only a few days later, were fans, not disciples. They may have watched what He did, admired Him, spoke of Him, but never came to know Him or to learn from Him. Which are you?DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT

Our Lord promises us that our past might be healed. Israel had a long and sad past. We read of it in the first reading today: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new,” God said to Israel. Israel had this frightful history of profound loss, and trauma, and that long, dark shadow cast over their generations kept them from appreciating the good that God had done for them. Saint Paul gives us the remedy in the second reading for today: “Forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

Do you think--like Jesse and Samuel, right now as we listen--we do not have our own cultural scripts, things that unconsciously have shaped the way we relate with each other and sometimes impede how we see God in each other? Once upon a time, the Earth rotated around the Sun. Today, the Earth rotates around me. That's a cultural mindset. 

In the languages of the Bible, there is no definite article, 'the' Holy Spirit. In Hebrew and Greek, we say 'Holy Spirit'. I think using the definite article distances us from the personality of the Spirit of God. And Saint Paul tells us that Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. And when we have that love within us, we can see the 'other' as gift of God to us.

We can wander anywhere in life, except apart from the embrace of God. It will always be there. It will never leave us. We tend to make religion too complicated; we tend to fill our prayers with too much "stuff." But only one thing matters, and that is the confidence that comes with a deep relationship with God.

Goodness is the awareness you have of God when you are moved to pray and serve and give. Goodness is the awareness of God that comes when you are tempted and know you need to turn away. Goodness is even the awareness of God that is there when you have disobeyed and you sense that inner voice to turn and put things right. Wherever we go, we’re the child of a wandering Aramean who learned to trust God.Download Transcript

Confronting sin is not easy; it's not pleasant. It's painful. And we have to name the sin. Sometimes people don't name the sin as sin. The other aspect of dealing with a sin, once we are aware of the sin is, we need to accept a paradox. The paradox is, that there is God's grace in us, and we are always open to God's grace. But at the same time, there is a sinful inclination in us. So these two poles are always in us.

How does the love of God affect me? If it does not affect me, then the love of God is just an abstract, so it doesn't become personal. If the love of God is personal--He loves me deeply--then also He wants a response from me. So how do I respond to His love? The response to love is love.

The Jesus who came, who spoke of God, who spoke of God as a loving Father--it was not that He was drawing some inferences, or that he was talking in metaphysical terms. He was talking in real terms, because He came from the Father. He had experienced that love of the Father. He knew what was the nature of the Father. So it was His experience that caused Him to call God, "Abba, Father."Learn more about the Gundestrup CauldronLearn more about the Ardagh Chalice

Every breath we take, our ability to breathe itself, is divinely inspired. God breathes the breath of life into us. It's with that breath that we use our voice, that we speak. There is perhaps no faculty of the human person that has the power to do as much good or as much harm as human speech.

To love people who hurt you, and to give to people who not only are not able to repay but who may not seem to deserve it anyway, and to forgive without getting nasty about it, is to show that we really believe what Jesus says. When we choose to respond in love and forgiveness, and to give even when it hurts us, we are saying that nothing in this life is more important than showing Jesus’ kind of love.Download Transcript

Chiasmus is a style where a writer of the Bible starts with one part of the story and ends with a second part that contrasts the first part. For example, in our first reading, we see Jeremiah doing a beautiful chiasmus. The central question that Jeremiah is asking is, 'Who is the person who puts his trust in human beings? And who is the person who puts his trust in the Lord?' Why have Jeremiah and Luke employed this beautiful chiasmus for us this morning? It is to make vivid in our minds a very important spiritual reality. 

Let's see: "Blessed are you when they hate you and insult you and exclude you because of the name of Jesus. But woe to you when all speak well of you."

Peter tells us something this morning: Trust and obey. Even when your common sense and your logic tells you, 'This is hopeless' . . . Nothing is hopeless. Even when the science tells you, 'Just give up. Go home and get ready,' you don't give up, because the power of God sometimes goes against the science.

 What is the appropriate and proper—kosher—use of the lips? When we speak: First to praise God, to give God the honor that is due to God. For prayer. To bless and not curse. To build up and not break down. To exhort and to encourage, and not to curse and discourage. We're given this tremendous power of communication, and our proper, appropriate use of it is to build us, to inspire, and to encourage. 

We need to recognize that it is easy for us to be like the townspeople in Nazareth––expecting God to fulfill all our hopes while at the same time trying to keep our own boundaries and prejudices. This cuts us off from people God loves––people God wants to love through us.We come to church each week, I hope, because we want to identify with God's good news. Jesus' words to the people of Nazareth tell us it is not good news if we can't get beyond our own expectations.Download Transcript

Whether or not you accept the correction of God when things are going well in your life, remember when you find yourself in a place of darkness and hopeless, that there is a God. It is real. All of the things that are said of God, it is real. In a moment of challenge and darkness, remember the truth: It is real. And come back to the Lord.