Easter Vigil Homily 2026
Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast
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‘Do not be afraid!’ ‘There is no need to be afraid!’ In that wonderful account of the Resurrection in St Matthew’s Gospel those are the first words the women who went to the tomb heard, first from the angel and then from Jesus himself.
Listening to the great sweep of God’s faithfulness in our readings just now, we are all at different places in our journeys of Christian faith. Some of us here heard them as they open their hearts to receive the new life in Christ in Baptism, Confirmation and reception into full communion with the Catholic Church. Most of us have been on this road for years. But I have no doubt that each one of us, for his or her own reasons needs to hear the angel say; ‘there is no need to be afraid’. More importantly, in the very particular circumstances of the life of each one of us, we have the right to hear Jesus speak personally to me, saying; ‘do not be afraid’.
Shortly I will be inviting everyone here to make – or to renew – the most profound promises of our lives. Our baptismal promises, which effectively say: ‘I belong to Christ. I reject all that is not of him. I believe in the God who made me, redeemed me and loves me.’ That is the fundamental reason why I have good reason not be afraid.
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We make these promises here tonight in the Cathedral under the patronage
of St Peter. He is our patron, and we do well to remember him because
he knows what it is like to be confronted with great fear. Simon Peter,
the fisherman from Galilee who became the Rock — and who denied Jesus.
Three times, in the courtyard of the high priest, a servant girl asked him: ‘Are you not one of his disciples?’ Peter said: No. I am not one of them. I don’t know who you are talking about. Peter is not a stranger to us. We know him — because we have been him. Peter failed his promises spectacularly. And yet, by the providence and grace of God, he is our patron here. Peter is the one who intercedes for us tonight.
Peter knows that we have a great weakness as well as a great call. Three times Peter denied Jesus. Then, Jesus welcomed him back and asked him three times; ‘do you love me?’ Do you love me? Do you love me?’ Peter answered earnestly; ‘Yes, Lord you know I love.’ He was restored. Commissioned. Sent.
On this night we too we will be restored, commissioned by our Baptism and sent. And to be baptised and sent, we must be able to answer Jesus when he asks: Do you love me? Our baptismal promises are our invitation to declare our love of Jesus. At Easter we gather to make or renew our promises because we so often fall short, just as Peter did. But Peter, who had wept in the darkness, became the one who brought healing, brought peace, shared the love of Jesus and built the Church. This is the Peter we ask to pray for us tonight. Not the perfect Peter — there was no perfect Peter. But the forgiven Peter. The restored Peter. The Peter who was sent to share the love of the Risen Christ.
Being sent to proclaim the Risen Christ has never been an easy task. From the very first moment of Easter morning, it has required courage. Those women who came to the tomb in the grey light before dawn — who ran from that place with fear and great joy, who were the first in all human history to carry the news that death had been defeated — they were not extraordinary people. They were ordinary people, asked to do something that felt impossible.
To say what they had seen. To be believed. To keep saying it, even when they were not. From that morning until now, every generation of Christians has faced the same call and the same cost. To speak when silence would be easier. To love when indifference would be safer.
To witness to a Risen Lord in a world that does not always want to hear it. The angel knew this. And so the angel’s first words to those women at the empty tomb were not an explanation, not a command — they were a gift. Do not be afraid.
But the angel did not leave them there, standing in their wonder. Come and see, the angel said — and then, immediately: Go. Go quickly. Tell his disciples. There is an urgency woven into that first Easter morning. The good news is not something to be held quietly inside. It is something to be carried, at speed, to the people who have not yet heard it.
In the coming week pay attention to all the Resurrection appearances of Jesus. Notice that in every appearance, the first gift Jesus gives is not information. It is peace. He begins with the people in front of him, and what they most need in that moment. Tonight we are gathered to receive that same peace — to know it deeply, to let it settle in us. Because it is the peace of Christ that sustains us as we go out to give witness to the Gospel. It is what makes it possible to live in a way that shows, without performance or pretence, that we are followers of Jesus.
The world stands in need of Christians who are not afraid. The world needs us. People who will speak the name of Jesus not as an embarrassment but as the name above every name. People who will love — actually love, with cost and inconvenience and sacrifice — because they have been loved first by God.
That peace is not the absence of difficulty. The early Christians knew difficulty. But they were not paralysed: they were afraid, and they went forward anyway, because the One who said ‘Do not be afraid’ had walked out of a sealed tomb and they had seen him with their own eyes.
We have not seen him with our own eyes. But we have received the testimony of those who did. We have received the Scriptures, the sacraments, this community, this night. We have, in Baptism, a share in the very life of the Risen One. And so to us also, across every century and on this holy night, he says: Do not be afraid.
And when we go from this place — out into a city and a world that needs witnesses — remember what we promised here. Remember the angel’s word and the Lord’s greeting. Remember that the same power that rolled away the stone is at work in you. You are not alone. You have never been alone. And the One who called you by name in the waters of Baptism calls you by name still. Do not be afraid.