Images from the Vigil. . .

One of the things I love most about the Easter Vigil is the procession with the new light of Easter.  We begin with Paschal Candle alone and then stop three times on our way into the nave, each time singing Light of Christ and passing the light to a third of the hand candles until when we have entered the nave and all are lit.  This year we did it in the Chapel.  Our smaller numbers (50) fit well into a chapel seating 70-80.  The light from the hand candles was brighter than in the larger nave of the main sanctuary (seating 400).  It was, however, not a big light but a collection of small lights.  At a point later in the liturgy, the lights of the chapel were lit and the entire space was bathed in light.

It strikes me that this contrasts well how we see the Church -- or at least how we would like to see her.  On the one hand, the Church in the world is not the bright and dominant light of the sun but a collection of smaller lights.  Christ is that light, to be sure, but how that light shines is the issue.  What we want is a bright light that dominates and cannot be missed or ignored.  We want a sun to obliterate the light so that there is no darkness.  That is what we want but that is not how it is.  For now, the light of Christ does not exist without challenge.  The Light, the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us but the people chose the darkness.  We would rather be the bright beams of a floodlight that leaves no hint of darkness left but until Christ comes in His unmistakable glory, the Church is more like a collection of those lights from the hand candles in the Easter Vigil.

The miracle about that light is that the light from even one is not lost in the darkness and that light of many together becomes a strong and profound light, even with the shadows of darkness around the edges.  Though the Church become few among the many who reject the light of Christ and choose to live in darkness and death, the light of Christ is not lost.  Even the light of one of the baptized stands out in the darkness.  But even though the Church is few and not a majority, the collected and gathered lights of the baptized faithful grow into an even stronger light.  In fact, is this not one of the reasons why we gather?  We come together to be in the Light of Christ's Word and Sacraments, the places of His presence where He bestows His gifts, but we also come together to strengthen one another and to stand together as Christ's own in a world for which He died but which has rejected Him.  Just a little thought for this morning...