The readings of the Easter vigil in particular take us on a run through the Old Testament, and tell us progressively of the sin of our first parents, which created the seemingly irreparable rift with the Will of the Holy One, and then of the first mending of the rift through Father Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his beloved son for the Will of God.
The Holy One having thus tested the waters, orders that it be within the promises to Abraham and his family that the final rebuilding of the bridge between God and man would appear. That bridge would be the God-man Christ, in Whom God would sacrifice His beloved Son, this wonderful Lord of ours conforming His own human will perfectly with the Will of God His Father. So, the Holy One would draw the people of Israel out of the sinfulness of Egypt into the desert of atonement with God and into His own Presence.
But the people fell back into sin, and prophets like Isaiah, Baruch and Ezekiel called them back to obedience. In the midst of a nation of sinners, there was always a faithful remnant, carefully following the Divine Will and praying for the others. And within the fullness of time, descended of King David arose the family of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of whom we have received the perfect man, wholly God and wholly man, Who as man officiates as priest for men and in Himself finally joins mankind back to God.
On this day, that renewed Mankind walked alive from the dead, and He bids us enter into His perfection and so into His peace and His life. Salvation came from the Jews, but is now made available everywhere. For the Risen One meets the Church not in Jerusalem, but beyond, in Galilee.
“And when the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome had bought spices, to come and anoint Jesus. So they came to the tomb very early on the day after the sabbath, at sunrise. And they began to question among themselves, ‘Who is to roll the stone away for us from the door of the tomb?’ Then they looked up, and saw that the stone, great as it was, had been rolled away already. And they went into the tomb, and saw there, on the right, a young man seated, wearing a white robe; and they were dismayed. But he said to them, ‘No need to be dismayed; you have come to look for Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified; He has risen again, He is not here. Here is the place where they laid Him. Go and tell Peter and the rest of His disciples that He is going before you into Galilee. There you shall have sight of Him, as He promised you.‘”
Gospel of S. Mark, 16: 1-7 [link]
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 