Sunday, May 8 : Benedict XVI

But what is resurrection? It does not form part of our experience, and so the message often remains to some degree beyond our understanding, a thing of the past. The Church tries to help us understand it… in the language of symbols… During the Easter Vigil, the Church points out the significance of this day principally through three symbols: light, water, and the new song – the Alleluia. First of all, there is light. God’s creation – which has just been proclaimed to us in the Biblical narrative – begins with the command: “Let there be light!” (Gn 1,3). Where there is light, life is born, chaos can be transformed into cosmos. In the Biblical message, light is the most immediate image of God: He is total Radiance, Life, Truth, Light. During the Easter Vigil, the Church reads the account of creation as a prophecy. In the resurrection, we see the most sublime fulfillment of what this text describes as the beginning of all things. God says once again: “Let there be light!” The resurrection of Jesus is an irruption of light. Death is conquered, the tomb is thrown open. The Risen One himself is Light, the Light of the world (Jn 8,12; 9,5). With the resurrection, the Lord’s day enters the nights of history. Beginning with the resurrection, God’s light spreads throughout the world and throughout history. Day dawns. This Light alone – Jesus Christ – is the true light, something more than the physical phenomenon of light. He is pure Light: God himself, who causes a new creation to be born in the midst of the old, transforming chaos into cosmos.

maronite readings – rosary,team