Dear Brothers and Sisters,
"On the first day of the week, at dawn, the women went to the tomb. And what they found was to puzzle them. There was evidence that the tomb had been opened, because the stone had been rolled aside, and there was a mystery: the tomb was empty. The body they wanted to embalm is no longer there. It is from this mystery, which is not yet comprehensible to them but which is not without significance, that faith will be born. What is important is not only what the two men in the dazzling garments say, "Why are you looking for the Living among the dead", but also what they invite the women whose names Luke does not immediately give us to do: "Remember". Remember, remember what he said to you when he was still in Galilee.
The empty tomb is not an incomprehensible enigma; it is a mystery that points to everything Jesus said and did for our salvation. The Resurrection is the culmination of the gift of his life by Jesus on the Cross when he cried out: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit". It fulfils both the Scriptures and what Christ announced during his earthly life. This is what Paul said he passed on to the Christians of Corinth: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried; according to the Scriptures, he rose again on the third day".
We have just heard the same Paul tell us in the letter to the Romans that through baptism we have passed through death with Christ, in order to live a new life with him.
It is this new life that springs from the tomb that we celebrate with the whole Church on this night. This new life is the fulfilment of God's plan for humanity. At the beginning of Luke's Gospel, the angel of the Lord was with the shepherds to explain what had happened in Bethlehem. At the end, two divine messengers explain what happened on Calvary and how life sprang from death. Each time, they speak of the Glory of God, which Saint Irenaeus tells us is the living man, and that the life of man is the vision of God to which we have access through the resurrection. Let us welcome this new life with joy and confidence. By praying with all those who will be baptised this night, let us welcome in faith the mystery of the empty tomb, the sign that life springs from death. This is true for Christ, but it is also true for each one of us if we follow in the footsteps of the Risen Saviour and rise with him.
P. Abbot Vladimir
