A Paschal Homily
Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, prior
and the night is my light and my delight” (Ps 138:12),
for Christ is risen!
I
n the beginning
the heavens were splayed
across the void
and the fabric of creation was woven by His hands:
a veil translucent upon the face of the earth,
finely woven that through it we might glimpse His
glory!
Christ is risen!
In the beginning He made man in His image, in
His likeness.
From the dust Adam emerged, facing the splendour
of His glory:
the creature reflecting as in a mirror
the Uncreated Beauty from which all beauty
springs.
Great was Adam’s grief,
terrible the laments of Eve,
when before their darkened eyes
descended the veil opaque and heavy,
the veil that they, by their sin, had pulled down
hard and fast
like a window shade in time of war!
But now the long blackout of history is ended,
for Christ is risen!
C
hrist is risen!
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen!
This is the night Eucharistic above all others!
This is the night of the Great Thanksgiving,
the Eucharist of glory,
for Christ is risen!
Wrapped in light as in a robe (Ps. 103:2),
He has gone into the sanctuary, passed beyond the
veil (cf. Heb 6:19).
Christ is risen!
Enveloped now in the bright cloud of the Spirit,
He stands, our priest before the Father,
forever alive, forever life-giving,
“holy, blameless, unstained,
separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens!” (Heb 7:26)
Christ is risen!
This is of all Eucharists the brightest:
the nocturnal Eucharist by which every night is
claimed for the light.
This is night of burning hearts and broken bread,
the night of the cup that overflows!
Christ is risen!
David sings the mystery
and the Church takes up his song!
This is the night foretold in prophecy:
“And the night shall be enlightened as the day;
“Look, my darling Eve,” says ancient Adam
in a creaking voice that has forgotten how to sing,
“is that the light of God I see?”
Behold, the peace of paradise,
for Christ is risen!
Shredded are the shades of night!
Sprung from their hinges the gates of the netherworld!
Unchained the chains, unbolted the bolts!
Christ is risen!
Eve, all bent earthward, stooped with the weight of
the ages,
lifts her old gray head as if to examine the fruit on
a branch,
then, leaning on her walking stick older than time
Adam had cut it for her from the tree
straightens her crooked back,
and opens her mouth to say:
Christ is risen!
He enters, the Warrior returned from battle,
the King covered with victory,
the Bridegroom “all radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand” (Cant. 5:10),
for Christ is risen!
B
ehold,
the Ram caught in a thicket of thorns!
Behold, the gentle Lamb bound and laid upon
the wood!
Behold, the Victim for the Altar!