Let There Be Light!

One more candle to light the world
One more voice to sing praise
Every child that's born to the world
Is given the light of faith
If everyone joined hands in a circle
And passed that little light around
There'd be a huge fireball streaking across the sky
And darkness would flee at the sight of love
- Sight of Love, Corinne May

The Easter Vigil has always been the high point of my experience of the Easter Triddum, ever since I was a young altar server. It was the Mass that I looked forward to the most in my younger days, especially because of the “after-party” that we had as servers. We’d spend the night in Church, supposedly to sleep over so that we could be ready to serve the morning Masses on Easter Sunday, but sleep was probably the last thing we did! Those were the days.

A profound part of the Easter Vigil liturgy is the Service of Light. Here, the Church is complete darkness and silence, as we quietly await the resurrection. The only source of light is the bonfire which is lit outside the Church. The bonfire is blessed at the start of the Vigil and used to light the Paschal candle. That candle is then brought into the Church and presented to us as the Light of Christ.


The light from the Paschal Candle is then used to light up the candles of the congregation. Slowly, and warmly, the Church begins to light up. Darkness flees away because the light of Christ has been shared with everyone. And from there, the Easter Proclamation is sung. We are told to rejoice and be glad, for gloom and darkness has come to an end! Christ passes over from death to life on this night!

This has always encapsulated Easter for me. The light of Christ shattering the darkness of the grave. The light of Christ coming into our hearts, and giving us reason to rejoice! And we rejoice because of the Paschal Mystery; the passion, the death, and now the resurrection which gives life and light to our world, and to our hearts!


Just like the darkened Church, our world also seems to be in darkness on this Holy Saturday, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It does seem as though the virus has gotten the upper hand. The number of infections have climbed over the last few days. We are into the fifth day of the Circuit Breaker in Singapore. We can’t even meet our families and friends who don’t live in the same household as social gatherings have been banned by the government for the time being. However, in the midst of the darkness that our world is in today, Easter still comes! The light of Christ still comes, and shines through.

We have all been given the light of Christ at our baptism. We all have the light of faith. We may not be able to find a cure for those who have been physically struck by the virus, and we may not be able to do something about the escalating numbers, but we have the power to cause the darkness in the hearts of our brothers and sisters that has been caused by the pandemic to flee, if we pass this light around.

The Franciscan Peace prayer speaks about being light to others in the midst of darkness. Perhaps this is the call for all of us this Easter.

Let there be light! Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and happy Easter. 

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