Archbishop Charles Scicluna prayed for people to seek out the fragrances of forgiveness, grace, and peace in his Easter Vigil homily on Saturday night, drawing parallels with the perfumery taken to Jesus’ tomb prior to the discovery of his resurrection.
In his homily at St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the Archbishop said that the resurrection of Christ invites us to seek Jesus wherever there is life, rather than death.
He explained that it should be remembered that his words become alive in our lives and memory and “our testimonies", and not only where death is looked at. During his prayers to the Lord during the service, Scicluna expressed his wish for Christians to not only say Happy Easter during this celebration but for their gazes not to look “for the corpses of sin, injustice, spiritual and physical corruption in our lives, but for the fragrance of forgiveness, grace and peace”.
Addressing and greeting the new catechumens, he said that whilst today they were going receive the sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation, partake and share in the; this was a very important day in their life and in that of the Church.
Whilst wishing the new Church members well, he told them that this commitment enables them to lead many other brothers and sisters to Jesus through their witness.
Referring to those who were to anoint the body of Christ when he died, as said in the Scriptures, Scicluna said that Jesus uses women who are led and driven by the instinct of love and devotion.
During his sermon the Archbishop recounted the episode from the Bible and spoke of how these love-driven women wanted to complete their job.
He explained how it was during the early hours of the Sunday morning that these women went to the grave where Jesus had been interned. Their idea was to continue what had started on Friday. Since Friday was the day of preparation, they could not anoint the dead body of Jesus as they wished and wanted to continue this act of piety, mercy, love and devotion.
With them they took the perfumes they had prepared; fragrances to try and cover up the smell of a dead body and at the same time express love for everything that happened before. They found the stone lying in front of the tomb, when they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus they were looking for.
Quoting from Catholic scriptures Scicluna said that "But suddenly two men dressed in bright clothes appeared before them. The women, filled with fear, lowered their eyes to the ground.”
Addressing the audience, he asked them to reflect on the many times they have lowered their gaze and forgotten that life is not forever and that it is “as if we expect to find all the answers for our life in the earth and in its fruit, not in all the thirst for the love that is in us.”
In the Scriptures the event continues as the women were asked “But they said, "Why are you looking for him in the midst of the dead?" Archbishop Scicluna said that such a question was being asked by God to every Catholic person, during the festive period.
“He is telling us: do not look for us where there is death, corruption, pollution, decomposition. I'm alive! The fragrance that the love of those women carries to the grave is no longer a fragrance that obscures the smell of death but becomes a beautiful piece of news that gives a special smell and taste to life. It is not a perfume that covers it but an expression of a new life of the resurrection,” said the Archbishop.
He said that apart from the first lesson, there is also another one which these women are taught as they now need to understand the “law of the cross.” As an explanation to what this means Scicluna said that the fragrance which the women tried to use will never cover the price of love. "It was necessary for the Son of Man to be delivered into the hands of sinners, to be crucified, and to rise from the dead on the third day. At that moment they will remember the words of Jesus.”
He said that at some point these women became evangelists as they went and told the news to apostles, the eleven, and all the others.
The archbishop explained how everyone is called to be an evangelist and be “those who bring the good news of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.” He added that the first reaction of the people during that time was not to believe them as they were women, something which can be found in the Gospel of St. Mark.
He said that as those who couldn’t find the corpse of Jesus in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, so should remain the feeling of astonishment in all those celebrating this feast, and that such a feeling should remain within them as they augur each other a happy Easter.
During the mass, Archbishop Charles Scicluna welcomed 14 adults to the Catholic congregation in a baptism ceremony.
The newly-baptised come from Malta, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Russia, Libya, Kuwait, Nepal, and Albania.
Addressing the present catechumens, as the Resurrection of Christ was being celebrated, he explained to them how they have been attracted by God himself into the Christian Church.
“We welcome you into our community. Do not expect us to be perfect, please, we are not. But let us together, as a family and as friends who belong to Jesus Christ, learn to rely constantly on his mercy, the mercy that today in silence and humility conquers the devil's pride, that grace that in silence and humility covers and forgives all our sins. Welcome to the family of Jesus,” he said.