I remember a hot summer evening eight years ago when suddenly a thunderstorm blew over Augusta. The lights went out. After the storm passed and since I could not find a flashlight or candle, I walked from the rectory to the Perpetual Adoration Chapel. The only light in the chapel came from the two candles burning brightly on either side of the altar. The light reflected off the monstrance onto the several faithful praying. As I knelt glad to have found some light in the darkness of the night, I thought to myself, “Christ truly is the light of the world, I found light here because He is here.”
During the Easter Season the interplay of light and darkness shines strongly in the liturgy, especially at the Easter Vigil. We rejoice that Jesus Christ has come into the darkness of the world to crush the power of sin and death with his infinite and eternal light of Resurrection.
As the Paschal Candle enters the darkened church at the Easter Vigil, it is a symbol of Christ entering a world darkened by the heavy yoke of sin. Yet the Pascal Candle is not dimmed by the sharing of its light, but rather its light multiplies as the faithful ignite their own candles from it. Suddenly the darkness is overcome by light; Christ conquers the darkness as His presence extends throughout the church.
In the Exultet at the start of the Vigil, we sing the praises of the night of the Resurrection, the one night “worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld.” We proclaim “this is night of which it is written: the night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness. The sanctifying power of this night dispels all wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners.”
On the holy night of Easter, the light of the Risen Christ penetrates all darkness. We are glad along with all corners of the earth “knowing an end to gloom and darkness.” Glory floods the earth, “set ablaze with light from her eternal King.”
The light of Christ shines brightly during the Easter Season in the Church’s liturgy, yet the light of Christ ought to shine brightly in our everyday lives. A candle was lit from the Easter Candle on the day of our baptism and it is meant to keep burning brightly within us. In the same way I searched for light after the summer storm in Augusta left me in utter darkness, we are called to seek the light that never ends nor sets, Jesus Christ who has shed his peaceful light on us.
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