He is risen! I relished the quiet splendor of Spring this morning—this morning unlike any other. We had an unusually large crowd for the Easter Vigil last night—actually ran out of candles, something I don't recall ever happening before. There might have been one hundred and fifty people there. It was chilly outside as midnight arrived,; everyone standing in the dark around a little pile of wood. After a greeting to our guests from the abbot, Brother Sebastian began the ceremony of the "New Fire". With his monastic cowl drawn back over his shoulders and his hood up, he looked very medieval as we all stood in the darkness and he began striking that flint stone over and over while we sang "Forever Faithful". The sparks ignited a small fire which was then cast on to the wood for the larger fire and the abbot lit the Easter candle. One has the feeling of something momentous arriving as the reader relates the story of creation from Genesis. A few minutes later, all the lights come on, we sing the Gloria and the Gospel of the Resurrection is read. At the Renewal of Baptismal Vows, a man processed up the center of the church with a little girl draped over his shoulder like a winter coat—sound asleep. Later, as glazed donuts were served up in the guesthouse, she looked so wide awake! I was amazed at the variety of people who had gathered at midnight to celebrate the resurrection with us: a young man from Indonesia studying for the priesthood at Divine Word Seminary about twenty minutes from the monastery, his friend from Nigeria also studying for the priesthood, their professor, a language teacher who was originally a Quaker and was initiated into the church a year ago. There was a large Japanese family there whom I glanced at during the abbot's homily when he made mention of the devastating power of a "tsunami". The eldest daughter did one of the readings at the Vigil. I heard some very strong singers during the Recessional Hymn and discovered these were Lutherans from Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque. All had gathered at midnight in the chapel of a Catholic monastery to celebrate the greatest mystery a human heart can contemplate: the rising of a man from the dead, and all that implies about who God is, who we are, and what awaits those who love God. But what was most real for me was Him—the presence; the awesome felt presence of One risen from the dead. Finally, the only way you can really experience, in its fullness, the reality of a man risen from the dead, is together with a church full of believers praying, singing, exchanging the sign of peace. Celebration of the Resurrection is not something you can do alone. Only a community of faith can do this. That was so clear to me last night. The Church IS his Body and he is risen. Alleluiah!

Father Raphael