“it is right, in a very basic sense, that we should hear the texts of the Easter Vigil from the lips of women. It is they who are called to speak of the Resurrection. The passion story we heard yesterday is only about the works & deeds of men, & it is a gruesome & bloody story. But from of old, it is women who are the protectors of life. They had to watch the fire when the men went out to the hunt or to war. They warmed their hands & sheltered it against the wind. In their maturing, they embodied the earth itself, & in the periodic monthly rhythms of their own bodies they imaged the mystery of the moon. Theirs from of old is the power to create life, & no one could solve the mystery of its beginning. Women are called to read the message of the Resurrection, for in their whole essence they are closer to it than men.”                                    
                                                                                                                                     [the Open Tomb ; Eugen Drewermann]
 
 
“what does all this mean; the witness of nature, the testimony of history, the words of our hearts? The Church tells us at a certain point in the Easter Vigil, that it is like the return of the bells & a new song. We can make the fire so hot that it melts the dead stone & metal pours out. When it  cools, it can be shaped into a bell. Our hearts could be the same. Wherever they are struck, they swing into a pure harmonic sound, & all the conflicts are resolved in a single music of joy beyond all chaos, beyond the grave, beyond the night. That is what this night festival wants to tell us; we are going to the light, we are on the way to see the empty tombs.”
 
..beyond the chaos of a covid ward, seemingly overwhelmed..                    ;Lord have mercy
..beyond the grave of 127,000 covid deaths so far.. empty tombs..               ;Christ have mercy
..beyond night..                                                                                                        ;Lord have mercy
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins & bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
“Christ is the morning star, who when the night of this world is ended, brings to his saints the promise of the light of life, & opens everlasting day.”                                                                                                       [prayer of St Bede]
 
 
 
“..who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”.. question which “outs” the character passion & love of the three women.. Mary Magdalen, Jesus’ closest disciple, Mary his beloved mother, & Salome, daughter of Herodias, who danced so well & having been promised any gift by Herod, asked on orders from her mother, for the head of John the Baptist on a dish. What a wonderful trinity of women, who went to weep & to mourn, & to anoint the body of Jesus.. each came with memories of an intimate relationship with him..& did you notice their faith? “who will roll away the stone?” not “will we find anyone?” women of faith love & conviction..
“the women who went to the grave on Easter morning did so with the feeling that this dead man was more alive than all of them.. the executioners, the murderers, the survivors throughout the land. But they could not live that way. The tomb is a nowhere land, the home of homelessness.“
& we consider homelessness as describing vagrancy, sleeping in doorway of M&S in
Pavement in York.. one home address of Hamish & Joel..”& who is my neighbour?” & Jesus tells story of Good Samaritan.. part 1.. a part 2 for me was 3 yrs ago when Hamish, one of our men of the road, came as he usually did before lockdown, to spend time in our Church.. at back under table our plastic boxes collecting food for food bank.. into which, like a fellow scapegoat called Judas, allegedly put in his sticky fingers & “took food from the common fund”.. he & Joel did it with my blessing..3yrs ago next week St Benedicts RC PS had made a beautiful Easter garden on a large square tray.. lots of work a labour of love by children & proud to see it in front of our altar.. ultimate accolade worth far more than the Easter eggs they were awarded for making it.. one afternoon I came into Church & next to Easter garden, on sanctuary carpet a wet patch.. touched it smelt it.. it was lager..
& there at back was a chair moved from near front & next to it an empty lager can.. you didn’t need AC12 from Line of Duty to establish what had happened.. Hamish had been in ..raided food bank box, sat in his usual place, then gone up to the altar to look at our Easter garden & to pray there in front of it..& whilst there, had knocked over his can of lager.. why would any of us here misjudge the facts of the situation to think of any other motive than he came right up to the front, where you come for Communion, ultimate moment of belonging & inclusion, to look at our Easter garden & thereby to be drawn into prayer.. an unshaven middle aged man standing on the right hand side of the altar who, if you had come into the Church, to the tomb the tabernacle to pray, you would have been astounded, struck with amazement, as Hamish may well have said “there is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth; he has risen. See [ the Easter garden & the tabernacle ] here is the place where they laid him”
“but you must go & tell Fr Bede & the parishioners  “he is going before you to Galilee.. it is there you will see him, just as he told you.” Hamish now in Galilee..
In my 5yrs as Procurator at Abbey & College, I would have Abbots permission to take my retreat away from Abbey for a precious week of quiet & solitude.. used to go to Fort Augustus in Scottish Highlands, & live with their small community of monks living on edge of Loch Ness.. one afternoon took a long walk up into the hills no road no footpaths a heather moor, & I made for the Loch from where at height I could see 26 miles down Loch & spectacular views beyond to some of the highest mountains in Scotland.. stood looked wondered at how anyone but God could have imagined prayed & loved this into life, for you & I to live & to love in.. the home of homefulness.. 30mins later I turned to leave only to find a work of vandalism on rock face behind me.. vandal had clearly been twice.. once to look at view then to return with tin of paint & a paintbrush.. he/she had written in white paint in letters 6ft high a message for a Hamish or a Bede who happened to come, quietly like the three women, to grieve & to pray.. it said “Christ is alive”.. the Easter Proclamation..
“it will always happen that people will try to imprison other human beings, even put guards before their tombs & forbid any disturbance of the quiet within which life is stirring, to put a stop to any interference in the routines of non-life. These guardian spirits are now, for the first time, afraid. they “they” are like the dead when life breaks out, & it is suddenly clear that from this time forever it will be impossible to imprison a human reality in any kind of tomb. God who created us desires that we should live; otherwise we would not exist. It took all of eternity to produce something as precious as each individual one of us. We will be able to live for all eternity.
On this morning that truth is clear in the hearts of three women who behold the face of God, at the tomb, in our Church in a stained carpet, in Fort Augustus on a rock face, & in Hamish, a beloved disciple of the Risen Lord.. a truth which is clear, & which is powerful enough to wake the dead.”
..& all you have to do is to make for Galilee “it is there you will see him, just as I told you”.. because Hamish told me & now I tell you.. “go & tell”.. “Christ is alive!”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     [Easter Yr B Mk 16;1-7]