April 8, 2023 (Easter Vigil)

by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.

[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]

Mother Teresa said, “Peace begins with a smile.” Simple words, yet insightful. A smile welcomes without words.

At times, I walk this campus, trying to trap students with their blank, preoccupied faces into smiling by flashing a smile at them. In that wordless interchange, something awakens. If you think about it, they are tiny resurrection moments. Our smile proclaims them valuable and loveable, and their returned smile says thanks.

I know it’s by analogy, but doesn’t God smile? … Don’t you think he smiled on each day of creation when Genesis said: “He saw that it was good.” Can’t you imagine his smile of total delight when he gazed at “God saw everything he had made, and it was very good.” … Sabbath is not just about rest; it is about delighting!

God made us, male and female, in his image. Our mission is to be God’s image-bearing people; he gave us his creation, not to dominate, but to delight in and be good stewards. … Well, that ended quickly!

It is not just the first man and woman who spoiled it all; we reaffirm and ratify that first sin in our every sin. The couple that once walked naked and unashamed, who smiled in the delight of communion, began the game of blame. Like cancer, we spread division and destruction. We live now in an age of divisiveness and rage. Too many smiles of connection have been wiped off our faces. … Mark Twain observed: “Man is the only animal that blushes … or needs to.”

God wants His good creation back; he wants you back fully alive. He wants us to be His image-bearing people who delight in each other, in his creation, and in Him. What we lack is a heart that truly delights! God wants a revolution of joy. Jesus said. “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” … How am I to love? … Do it like Jesus; be a gift of self. … He said: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.” … Come alive with his love for you.

It isn’t just the Egyptians that enslave. … We do it too ourselves. … The list of addictive distractions seems endless. Whatever your controlling habit of choice is, you enjoy less and less. … The anxious and dejected anesthetize themselves with distraction. … Where is delight? … Do you remember the joy you felt as a child, the wonder of new things, the beauty of puppies, the feeling of belonging and being loved. … (Yes, I know some children are denied this, the more our shame.) … Where is the joy that proclaims life as wonderful and meaningful? … Maybe we need a small child to teach us to smile and delight?

Baruch said tonight that God offers a different wisdom than society’s that seems hell-bent on creating hell on earth with too many at each other's throats. Demanding rights without responsibility is killing.

God calls; come to the feast! In Isaiah, God’s called us tonight to a block party: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

The angel told the women Jesus is risen, and (I quote) “Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way …” … Curious, why Jesus didn’t simply appear to them? … The earliest name of the Church was “The Way.” Matthew is telling his hearers that you will only discover the risen Lord by risking living his way. … Too many want to be convinced before risking. If we lived our love that way, we would never be in relationships, we would want a guarantee first. A new dynamism is unleashed in the doing.

The first Christians risked the living and they conquered an Empire, not by telling people, “Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that,” but by their smiles. … OK, it was a bit more; it was the smile of forgiving others, loving the enemy, going the extra mile, helping the hurting, feeding the hungry, and so much more. They conquered the world through the good they did and the love they had for each other. They formed family.

But we can take it all for granted! … You become what you decide to notice. What happens when we begin to take our spouse, our child, our friends, and our planet for granted? They begin to fade in our hearts, all because we didn’t actively notice and delight in them. The same with God. God isn’t absent; we are. it is easy to take him for granted by not noticing his gifts and presence. No wonder Frederick Nietzsche wrote: “I might believe in the Redeemer if his followers looked more redeemed.”

Jesus did not wash our sins away by pain, he floods us with himself. Take, eat this is my body. ... Take, drink this is my blood.

This is no mere symbol; it is what it symbolizes; it is Jesus whole and entire! Jesus on the night of darkness and dread, gave himself away into their hands. Delight in the beauty of the Father’s love made visible in his giving you Jesus’ humanity and divinity to be yours.

There should be some holy time in your day to allow God simply to love you. Make every smile a smile of Jesus in you. Mother Teresa said: “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Bless with your smiles.

My thanks to those baptized, received, and confirmed this night. My prayer for you this coming year is to let God’s love smile on your every day by noticing and delighting, and by that love to transform you into his love for others. Smile, God loves you.