The title of my Easter sermon this year is “No night lasts forever,” which is a direct quote out that jumped out of me as I was watching Pope Francis’ homily a few hours ago at the Easter Vigil in Rome.

No night lasts forever. I love it – it is so true! Les Miserables has a beautiful line: “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” Sometimes we go through various things and we think, will this ever be over?

Guatemala travel story….Will this plane ride EVER end????

We’ve all been through things like this. They are what we call first world problems. But many have been through much worse things. Sometimes we have no idea about the dark nights of the soul that people go through. Trust me: I hear lots of confessions. There is a lot of suffering, and in places where you don’t always expect to find it: folks deal with challenging jobs, demanding bosses, difficult people, loneliness in school, injustices and slights – folks endure stays in the hospital, trials and tribulations, sicknesses of body mind and soul, deaths, addictions they just can’t shake. Think about the folks in Ukraine who have been sheltering for over a month, whose homes have been destroyed and who can’t find food. Talk about dark nights.

The list of darknesses we humans endure is not short!

But the pope is right: no night lasts forever, and “even the darkest night will end and the sun shall rise.“ Today we celebrate that the powers of darkness that brought about the darkness of the tomb and all the darkness of the world surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus and surrounding our own lives … those powers of darkness are so weak compared to the powers of the Risen Christ! One tiny spark puts asunder an ocean of dark. The forces of light are stronger than the forces of darkness each and every time.

In the old days, the Esaater Vigil started at 3am or so, so that it would end as the sun was rising. IF I make this homily long enough, maybe we can achieve the same result! But no, the point of it is this: Jesus floods the world with LIGHT, just as the dark church tonight was flooded with light when the pascal candle representing Jesus came in. Open wide the doors to Christ the Light, and we will never be the same!

Our light, our hope has a name: JESUS! And is not a piece of history, a great figure from the past who died – no, he is RISEN, RISEN INDEED