Christ's resurrection brings amazement and joy, archbishop says at Easter vigil

Ten people enter into full communion with the Catholic Church during vigil service at Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament

DETROIT — "How can we not but be amazed that Christ is risen?"

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron's question to the faithful gathered at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on March 30 was rhetorical and poignant.

The archbishop's question was reference to what the angel told the three women who visited the Holy Sepulchre as dawn broke after the sabbath on the first Easter Sunday, finding the tomb empty.

The angel told Mary Magdalen, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, not to be amazed when they did not see Christ's body.

But Archbishop Vigneron said the request was confounding for the three women — and all the faithful — because of the implications that came with the disappearance of the body of Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died, but rose from the dead and had defeated death for all eternity.

“The angel told them not to be amazed; how would that be possible, not to be amazed?” Archbishop Vigneron said during his homily. “I think when I read that, I say, ‘Oh yeah, right. Don’t be amazed.' How can we not be amazed Christ is risen?”

Archbishop Vigneron led the faithful in commemorating the resurrection of Christ on a crisp, overcast night during the annual Easter vigil celebration.

The Church recalled during the Holy Triduum how on the night Jesus was arrested, Peter stood by a fire in the high priest’s courtyard, denying Christ. On this night, however, members of the church, old and new, stood next to a blazing fire in the cathedral courtyard, giving witness to the dawn-breaking light of Christ's resurrection.

The most solemn night of the liturgical year began when Archbishop Vigneron reminded the congregation what they were doing, why they were there, and who they were proclaiming to the entire world as they kept watch in the night.

“For 40 days we have fasted and prayed in order to come to this Passover feast of Christ,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “This is the most sacred night of the year, the night in which our Lord Christ himself passed over from death into life with the Father. The Church calls upon all of us, her sons and daughters, wherever we might be in the world, to gather to watch and pray. We keep the memorial of the Lord’s paschal solemnity with devotion and attention.”

The archbishop then inscribed the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, along with the numbers 2, 0, 2, and 4, into the Paschal candle, proclaiming: “Christ yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. All time belongs to him and all the ages. To him be glory and power through every age forever. Amen.”

Five grains of incense were pulled from the fire and placed into the Paschal candle. The community then processed into a dark cathedral, stopping three times down the nave, proclaiming, “The Light of Christ,” with the faithful carrying candles behind the Paschal candle and the archbishop; a visual representation of the illuminating power of Jesus Christ in the world.

The liturgy featured readings from Scripture recounting God’s providence throughout salvation history, culminating with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome finding empty the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid, and an angel appearing to them.

“The event begins with a course of astounding facts,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “The stone was removed. The angel was there, looking himself as if he were lightning, and the corpse was gone. And the Gospel makes four points about these facts. First, the recently crucified Jesus of Nazareth that the women went there looking for had been raised. He was not there. He was risen. He was the same one they crucified, yet radically different."

Finally, the archbishop said, they had a mission, to tell his disciples that he had risen.

"Seeing the tomb empty, hearing the message from God, they had to go and tell others this good news," Archbishop Vigneron said. "The Resurrection, the transformation, the glorification of the once executed and mutilated Jesus — it is too good to keep to oneself. Then, on the way back to Jerusalem, they meet Jesus himself. Jesus is alive. That is what we celebrate."

The message of the three women, and later the 11 apostles to whom Jesus appeared in the Upper Room, is a message of joy, Archbishop Vigneron said, a message that Jesus is alive and has brought about a new era of creation in the world.

"The grace given to us is joy, a kind of joy the holy women had when they learned from the angel that Jesus is risen," Archbishop Vigneron said, "It's the kind of joy the disciples had when they met Jesus. The kind of joy that was certainly in the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady when she heard the good news of her son, God’s son.

"(It's) joy because they knew the one they loved so very much, who loved them to the very end, is alive. They have him back," Archbishop Vigneron continued. "The one who abandoned His spirit into the Father’s hands has been vindicated. He was not a fool. Not a charlatan. He wasn’t running a scam on them. He was what He said He was, and they were not foolish for believing in him. And that joy is our joy as disciples of Jesus Christ."

Ten welcomed into full communion

Following his homily, Archbishop Vigneron and the clergy processed to the back of the cathedral, where six catechumens from the Resurget Cineribus Family of Parishes (the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, St. Aloysius Parish and Old St. Mary's Parish, all in Detroit) were waiting to be baptized.

The archbishop asked the catechumens to affirm their faith and desire to be baptized, before he immersed them in the font, where they became renewed sons and daughters of God, much to the applause of all in the cathedral.

“I was very happy Fr. J.J. (Mech, rector of the cathedral) was wrong, the baptismal water was warm; it was warm like a bath,” Corrine Kingery of St. Aloysius Parish told Detroit Catholic after being baptized. “It’s hard to explain, but there was such a feeling of peace that washed over me, because I’ve been preparing for this for a year and half now, going to St. Aloysius, and it’s finally here. I finally receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.”

Kingery said her fiancé was raised Catholic but fell away from the faith. After a powerful experience with the Holy Spirit, he wanted to return, but she wasn’t so eager. Kingery said she had a bad perception of Catholics, particularly priests, and wasn’t sure what to expect when she and her fiancé walked into St. Aloysius for the first time.

What she found was something she wasn’t expecting.

“I went in and felt something that was amazing, that was incredible,” Kingery said. “It was incredible to have such an amazing, warm community. When I met Fr. Mario (Amore, of St. Aloysius), he was super chill, super approachable. After that first Mass, I went home and did my own research, and the Catholic Church has all the answers for all the different questions I asked.”

After the six catechumens were baptized, four candidates for confirmation, plus the six who were dressed in white baptismal robes, stood at the altar, where Archbishop Vigneron asked if they wished to be confirmed in full communion of the Catholic faith.

Using the Holy Chrism that was blessed on Thursday during the Chrism Mass, the 10 candidates affirmed their belief in the Catholic faith, gave the archbishop their chosen confirmation name and were marked by the Holy Spirit as full members of the one holy, Catholic and apostolic faith.

The joyous occasion was the beginning of a new life for the Church’s newest members and the culmination of spiritual accompaniment and formation for the confirmation sponsors and catechists who journeyed with the catechumens on their way to Christ’s Church.

Joseph Llope of St. Aloysius Parish in Detroit was raised Presbyterian and had been attending an Orthodox church before he discovered St. Aloysisus Parish. He wanted to learn more about Catholicism because his fiancée, Debbie, is Catholic.

“It feels great to be on the right side,” Llope said after the vigil Mass. “It’s great to be with a Church that has the true apostolic succession, with the real, consecrated Eucharist.”

Llope recalled how coming to St. Aloysius as an outsider and learning about the faith — and unlearning some “untruths” about Catholics — opened his mind to converting. The power and Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was a powerful motivator in his conversion, he said.

“The reverence for the Eucharist and what we have to do to prepare to receive it is just amazing,” said Llope, who said receiving his first Communion was the highlight of the evening. “The belief that it is truly the body and blood of Christ; not many other churches either believe it or hold it to that high of respect.”

Llope also mentioned the welcoming atmosphere of St. Aloysius and seeing a community of young adults his age practicing the faith and wanting to join the Church played a crucial role in his spiritual formation.

“It’s great to find a group of people my age who are just as in this as I am,” Llope said. “I had been away from churches for a couple of years. But since I started going to church again (at St. Aloysius) and found people who are into this as much as I am, it fills me with optimism seeing young people join the church. Next year I’m going to sponsor some who are in OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults).”

Following Mass, Fr. Mech congratulated all the newly baptized and confirmed Catholics, along with their sponsors and catechists, saying how critical a role they play in delivering the good news of Jesus Christ, just as the three women who discovered the empty tomb told the apostles.

"This is a grand celebration; this is why we do what we do, because of our Lord Jesus," Fr. Mech told the newly baptized and confirmed. "So if you know anyone who is remotely thinking of (joining the Church), they should be part of us. If you don’t have the courage to ask, give us their name; we’d be happy to contact them and invite them to be part of and be immersed in this wonderful gift.

"Congratulations to all of you who have been received to the Church tonight and initiated in," Fr. Mech concluded. "You are part of the body of Christ."