Vatican City, Apr 14, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Today, on Holy Saturday at night, the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided for the first time as Pope, over the Solemn Easter vigil of the Holy Night in the patriarcal basílica of Saint Peters.
During the vigil, he baptized seven people from various countries, and performed the traditional ritual of lighting the Paschal candle. Here are excerpts from the Homily given by Pope Benedict XVI during the vigil.
Benedict XVI started his homily with the words of the angel to the women looking for Jesus: "You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here" (Mk 16:6) “But the Evangelist says the same thing to us on this holy night: Jesus is not a character from the past. He lives,” the Pontiff said.
In the homily, the Holy Father wished first to explain the reason of the joy of this most solemn feast: “At Easter we rejoice because Christ did not remain in the tomb; we rejoice because he is the Alpha and also the Omega,; he lives not only yesterday, but today and for eternity (cf. Heb 13:8).