Full Text of Pope Francis's homily at the Easter Vigil

The official Vatican translation of the Pope's homily at the Easter Vigil in St Peter's Basilica:

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Tonight is a night of vigil. The Lord is not sleeping; the Watchman iswatching over his people (cf Ps 121:4), to bring them out of slavery andto open before them the way to freedom.

The Lord is keeping watch and, by the power of his love, he is bringinghis people through the Red Sea. He is also bringing Jesus through theabyss of death and the netherworld.

This was a night of vigil for the disciples of Jesus, a night of sadnessand fear. The men remained locked in the Upper Room. Yet, the women wentto the tomb at dawn on Sunday to anoint Jesus's body. Their hearts wereoverwhelmed and they were asking themselves: "How will we enter? Whowill roll back the stone of the tomb?."

But here was the first sign of the great event: the large stone wasalready rolled back and the tomb was open! "Entering the tomb, they sawa young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe." (Mk16:5). The women were the first to see this great sign, the empty tomb;and they were the first to enter.

"Entering the tomb". It is good for us, on this Vigil night, to reflecton the experience of the women, which also speaks to us. For that is whywe are here: to enter, to enter into the Mystery which God hasaccomplished with his vigil of love.

We cannot live Easter without entering into the mystery. It is notsomething intellectual, something we only know or read about. It ismore, much more!

"To enter into the mystery" means the ability to wonder, to contemplate;the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amidgreat silence by which God speaks to us (cf 1 Kgs 19:12).

To enter into the mystery demands that we not be afraid of reality: thatwe not be locked into ourselves, that we not flee from what we fail tounderstand, that we not close our eyes to problems or deny them, that wenot dismiss our questions.

To enter into the mystery means going beyond our own comfort zone,beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back, and going outin search of truth, beauty and love. It is seeking a deeper meaning, ananswer, and not an easy one, to the questions which challenge our faith,our fidelity and our very existence.

To enter into the mystery, we need humility, the lowliness to abaseourselves, to come down from the pedestal of our "I" which is so proud,of our presumption; the humility not to take ourselves so seriously,recognizing who we really are: creatures with strengths and weaknesses,sinners in need of forgiveness.

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To enter into the mystery we need the lowliness that is powerlessness,the renunciation of our idols. in a word, we need to adore. Withoutadoration, we cannot enter into the mystery.

The women who were Jesus's disciples teach us all of this. They keptwatch that night, together with Mary. And she, the Virgin Mother, helpedthem not to lose faith and hope. As a result, they did not remainprisoners of fear and sadness, but at the first light of dawn they wentout carrying their ointments, their hearts anointed with love. They wentforth and found the tomb open. And they went in.

They had kept watch, they went forth and they entered into the Mystery.May we learn from them to keep watch with God and with Mary our Mother,so that we too may enter into the Mystery which leads from death to life.

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