De profundis clamavi ad Te, Domine

Sermon for the Day of Resurrection

In the Beginning, God creates the Heavens and the Earth and from this moment there is the dark deep.

And the Holy Ghost hovers over the face of this darkness and knows that this darkness is not what should be. Light comes and the darkness is relegated to the shadows of the things that come to be at the hands of God.

[PAUSE]

In the Beginning is the Word. And the Word is with God and the Word is God. He, too, sees the darkness of the deep. He sees how this darkness seeps its way into Creation through cracks made by the choice of the Humanity He creates. He sees how Creation flounders in this dark flood and He hates it. He hates it literally with every fibre of His being, because He is not of the darkness and He desires nothing more than we, His Children to be free from this darkness. And so, He strips Himself of all that is of His Divine Royalty and dives into the dark deep.

For a while, He floats at the surface between darkness and light, offering His hand to pull to the surface those who are drowning in the darkness. He teaches them how to reach the surface, how to tell which way is up, how to stay afloat and await rescue. Yet, there are those who know and love darkness and cling on to things that make them sink. These lovers of darkness spitefully nail a heavy cruciform weight to Him and He sinks yet further into the darkness until He is seen no more.

[PAUSE]Physics tells us that a body with density less than that of water will float. He is not of the darkness; He is the light itself. His control of all Creation means that He can transform this cruciform weight into a thing of light and, like a bubble, rises to the surface with a rush that erupts onto the world and renders it speechless save the word, “Rabboni?”

And this is the genius of it for, to save us, He brings us to the surface and bids us partake of His very being so that we may become as light as He is. In becoming things of light, the darkness repels us. Thus the Church floats upon the face of the deep. It possesses the keys of Heaven because it knows how to cling on to the One Who Ascends and Who will return to draw us out of the deep from which we call to Our Lord.

[PAUSE]

The call of Humanity is heard, and we see the face of the dark deep bubble and froth as He bursts back onto the surface in His Risen Glory, taking breaths of air again and, in so doing, making the air sweet for us to breathe. His Light shines in our darkness, and the darkness cannot even begin to grasp Him. We may float and bob on the surface, we may flounder and flail in the storms that rush over us, we may sink into the depths: we are, however, of God by His grace, and the darkness may pass over us, but the light of Christ will not pass over. We, too, through our trust in Him will rise and one day soar up into the light where He is and will dwell there for ever where there is no darkness at all.