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April 7, 2007

Easter Blessings to all

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Yes, as promised last year, the Exsultet will be chanted in Latin. The Homily will be about Mother bee, very prominent in the Latin but unfortunately missing in the dreadful English translation. The program will have a literal translation into English, along with the Spanish translation.

There will be six baptisms tonight, and one recieved. They will all be confirmed and I have recieved faculties to confirm the husband of one of the newly baptised, the fiance of the one recieved, and two who are receiving their first communion tonight.

Homily Notes:

Fratres Carissimi, Queridos Hermanos, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord. At the beginning of this night, with ancient words and melody dating back to the first years after the resurrection, the church surrounds a significant candle, and invites it to embody the praise of the people of God, the church, as it chases away the darkness of this night and fills it with a glowing light.

This ancient song makes special mention of the work of human hands and so it is fitting that in this church we place this hand-made candle and praise the work of the artist that gives us such a gift. But the song also makes special mention of the work of the bees. The fire of this candle, although it is divided into parts, knows no loss from its light being lent out, divided and spread afar. As the light is given to each one of you, the intensity of the light in this place glows evermore intensely. The chant praises the melting streams of wax, which the mother bee has produced for the substance of this precious candle, and for the power and energy it gives for the increase of light.

Mother bee has produced no ordinary light. This light banishes a culture of darkness and now mingles with the lights of the heavens, and joined with the morning star praises the rising sun that breaks like a peaceful dawn upon a broken world.

O truly blessed night, in which heavenly things are joined to those of earth. This is the wedding night of the marriage feast of the lamb. This is the marriage of heaven and earth. In any marriage two opposites become as one, and in this marriage the Creator of the universe has invested each and every part of our creation with a capacity for the divine. God has taken up our flesh and our humanity even to the experience of death, and in his rising he has conquered death forever.

There is an old expression, "If you think you are too small to make a difference in this world, try sleeping with a mosquito". I would invite us to think like this: "if you think you are too small to make a difference in this world try living as a Christian." If the tiny bee can nourish a light that can compete with the stars of heaven, how much more can our small flesh and blood, when immersed in the great mystery of the of the death and resurrection of the Son of God and filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, spread the light of his resurrection to every corner of this world.

My dear Elect, this is the night of your rebirth in Christ Jesus. This night is not about anything we can do or anything we can feel. It is all about Jesus Christ our Lord and what he has done, in us and for us. It is he who has shed his most precious blood for us and invited us into the holy of Holies, to stand with confidence before the Father as his beloved children. We shall remain in our weak and sinful human flesh, but he will clothe us with his glory and change us into his likeness. And when we remain in him no darkness can ever overcome us because we shall always have the light of his resurrection to scatter the shadows and fear of the world.

In the days ahead when the power of darkness seeks to exert his influence over you, I invite you to remember mother bee. Remember the work of the bees and the human hands that fashioned this candle. Remember the glory of its light that mingles with the lights of heaven. And remember that the Lord has taken each of us, as small as we are, and given us his light and made us his children. And now changed into his likeness he has given us the ability to boldly stand in his presence and show the world a light that never fails.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at April 7, 2007 5:16 PM

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Comments

Lovely picture! Beautiful homily!

Posted by: Peggy Doherty at April 9, 2007 8:46 PM

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