Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult all creation around God’s throne, for Jesus Christ, our King, is risen! Christ has conquered and darkness has vanished forever! These first words of the exultet sums up the mood of the Easter Vigil, and inducts the faithful into the great season of Easter. Easter Vigil is a celebration of joy at the wonders God has wrought on behalf of creation. On the night of the Easter Vigil, God enables creation to pass over from darkness to light, and from death to life. On the night of the Easter Vigil, creation celebrates its salvation, its rising together with Christ from the dead. On the night of the Easter Vigil, creation celebrates its victory over the powers of darkness.
Easter Vigil celebrates a new dawn, the birth of a new creation, a new beginning. The Easter Vigil celebrations begins with the liturgy of the light. In the story of creation, God creates light on the first day. Not only is light created on the first day so that subsequent creation can be created in its light, but also because of the central role it plays in the sustenance of creation. Birds celebrate with songs and joy the birth of a new day at the first glimpse of light. Christ is the light of the world, and as such a celebration of his resurrection from the dead becomes a celebration of a new dawn, a new beginning.
Easter Vigil celebrates God recreating the universe. God created all things through God’s Word, Jesus Christ. When on account of humanity’s sins creation became alienated from its creator, God assumed a creaturely nature in order to reconcile creation to its creator. By assuming the nature of creation, God made creation a sharer in the glorious body of the Son of God. In other words, by God assuming the nature of creation, creation has also assumed God’s nature. Consequently, in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, God has also raised creation from its corruptive nature and given it new life.
Easter Vigil is thus a celebration of life. God not only creates but cares for and conserves what God has created. In the First Reading from Genesis, we hear the story of creation, how God made and gave life to all living things, and how God delighted in what God had created because it was all very good. In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God not only gives new life to creation but also conserves that life. The resurrection is a guarantee that nothing created by God will be lost. Resurrection, in other words, is God taking creation back to the original blessing.