St Mary’s Basilica, Sydney, 4 April 2026
In 1969 an American lawyer, Edward Packard, was telling bedtime stories to his two young daughters. But when the hero of the story reached a crossroads, each girl wanted the story to take a different direction. Unable to decide which, Packard played out both possibilities.
From this simple bedtime invention, the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books were born, selling 250 million copies in two decades in forty languages.[1] Turn to page 42 and you escape the island; turn to page 68 and you don’t. There are lots of choices and you get to pick your preferred ending.
Ordinary history often works that way: events unfold unpredictably, with no clear pattern or single destination. Salvation history is very different: it has an author and a trajectory. Tonight we heard its grand sweep in readings about the creation and fall, exodus and entry, exile and return. Not random or disconnected events these, but steps in a grand design of God as He draws nearer to us. All our readings are chapters in that unfolding narrative, pointing to a single destination: the empty tomb.
On all accounts, women were first on the scene to at Easter. Matthew’s version (Mt 28:1-10) opens with Mary Magdalene and another Mary at the tomb at the break of day. Dawn marks the end of the Sabbath. But it also has another significance: for Christians, Christ is the Light entering our darkness, the new dawn from on high, and His followers are ‘children of light’.[2]
In last Sunday’s report of Christ’s death (Mt 27:45-54), so, too, in today’s account of His rising, Matthew reports that the earth quaked and the soldiers too, tombs opened and the dead walked, women witnessed while men hid. But there’s an additional element tonight: a lightening-white angel rolls away the gravestone. “Don’t be afraid,” Gabriel said to Mary (Lk 1:30) and Joseph (Mt 1:20) at the start of this story; “Don’t be afraid,” he says again at its climax. “Jesus is not here anymore; He has risen, as he said he would.” Have a look at the empty tomb and abandoned grave-cloths. Then “Go tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead.”
Mark and Luke name some of the other women at the tomb (Mk 16:1; Lk 24:10), but their accounts are essentially the same: the women came while the men cowered in the cenacle; the girls believed, while the guys resisted; the women proclaimed the Resurrection, while the men took their time warming to the task. Luke tells us that when the women reported what they had seen, the men were incredulous: “Their story seemed pure nonsense and they did not believe a word of it.” (Lk 24:11) But history is not a choose-your-own-adventure after all: reality breaks through our expectations and preferences. God chooses His witnesses and, against the prejudices of the day, the first ones would be women.
In Matthew’s version the women get more than a view of the empty tomb and an angelic hermeneutic: they encounter the Risen Lord for themselves. They kneel before Him, teaching us this gesture of reverence and worship. They clasp His feet, feet they knew: one of the women had previously knelt to beg for His help (Jn 7:25; 8:3; 11:32); another sat at His feet to listen to His words (Lk 10:39); one washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair (Lk 7:36-50); another anointed them with expensive ointment (Jn 11:2; 12:3); all of the women had witnessed His feet being nailed to the cross. To know those feet was to know the man: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself and no ghost.” (Lk 24:39)
The women lead us in recognising and worshipping the Risen Lord. He repeats the angelic commission: go tell the men I have Risen; tell them to return to where it all began, in Galilee; tell them to meet Me there for breakfast, for recommissioning, for ascension. You women must tell the men: you will be the first Christian missionaries.
John’s Resurrection account focuses on Mary Magdalene (Jn 20:1-2,11-18). She comes first to the tomb, finds it empty, runs to tell Peter and John, and returns to weep their loss. It all takes place in a garden, recalling Eden where Adam was made from clay and Eve from his rib (Gen 2:4-15). Now the new Adam stands before the woman, as new life is born again from a hole in the man’s side. The Magdalene mistakes Him for a gardener—but then He is the One who planted Eden, who walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the orchard, and who has tended creation ever since.[3] Now Paradise Lost has been regained. He calls Mary by name and tasks her with telling the men. As she would later be called by St Thomas Aquinas and in the Liturgy, she is the apostolorum apostola (= apostle to the apostles).
So the pattern of the Triduum continues: on Maundy Thursday, the women were organisers and intercessors, working behind the scenes; on Good Friday, they were seers and companions to Christ. Now, at Easter, they step into the full light, no longer hidden or silent, the first worshippers and preachers of the Risen Lord!
What about us? Tonight St Paul says Baptism is about being joined to Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom 6:3-11). And so Benjamin, Mayumi, Joanna, Lay, Thomas, Anthony, Ross, Louis, Vandana, Isaac, Tyson, Shimeon, Bailey, Suin, Eromanga and James begin a new life with the holy women in the half-light at the empty tomb, offering the little they have, faithful if not yet fully understanding, ready to be worshippers and heralds of the Risen Christ.
Dear candidates, though our individuality and freedom are involved, being Eastered is about much more than choosing our own adventure. As today’s Australian newspaper celebrates, you are part of a ‘surge’ of 800 adult Catholic newcomers tonight here in Sydney alone, thousands more around Australia, and hundreds of thousands around the world.[4] It is a truly exciting time to be taken up into the great adventure of God, given a part in sacred history, becoming living readings alongside those heard at the beginning of Mass. God has chosen you to be a part of His great adventure: not because you are brave, as Peter wasn’t brave; not because you understand, as the Magdalene did not understand; but because He loves you and calls you by name tonight, as He did Mary and Peter and us all. Alleluia!
Word of Thanks after Holy Communion
Dear friends: it has been wonderful to be with you for this celebration of the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night. It has been a truly beautiful Mass and a fitting culmination of a week of extraordinary liturgies and devotions. I offer my heartfelt thanks to Dean Don Richardson and the cathedral clergy, to our Precinct Manager Helen Morassut and staff, to our Sacristan Chris Backhouse and his assistants, to our Events Manager Monica Rae Bautista with our videographers and helpers, and to Master of Ceremonies Fr Ben Saliba, with the deacons, ministers and seminarians. I also acknowledge the volunteer readers, ushers, bellringers and ministers who assist all year round. They’ve all worked so hard throughout Holy Week, preparing this cathedral, rehearsing, and assisting at the ceremonies: I am hugely grateful.
The Good News of Christ’s empty tomb and His defeat of sin and death is news so good it should be shouted from our steeples and sung as an Alleluia chorus. For this we thank our ‘DJ,’ Director of Music Daniel Justin, and our talented and generous musicians, lay clerks, choristers and staff: they have all done splendidly.
I also thank Paula Flynn and our RCIA team for preparing our catechumens and candidates for this night, along with all who have contributed to their journey of faith. On behalf of the Church of Sydney a very warm welcome to Benjamin ‘Michael the Archangel’ Tuita, Mayumi ‘Mary, Paul Miki’ Uomi, Davia ‘Genevieve’ Halim, Joanna ‘Catherine of Siena’ Nguyen, Lay ‘Catherine of Siena’ Xin Chew, Thomas ‘Aquinas, Aurelius’ Philips, Anthony ‘Pio, Paul’ Eam, Ross ‘Christopher’ Pendergast, Louis ‘Jose Luciano, Sisoes’ Vinciguerra, Vandana ‘Victoria’ Arorora, Isaac ‘Cosmas’ Deng, Tyson ‘Romulus of Fiesole, Alexander’ Freeman, Shimeon ‘John, Paul Miki’ Kim, Bailey ‘Thomas Aquinas, Thomas More’ Shannonhouse, Suin ‘Teresa of Calcutta’ Yang, Eromanga (now ‘Mary Mother of God, Thérèse of Lisieux’ Adermann and James ‘Carlo Acutis’ Paterson. It is a great joy to have you as our brothers and sisters!
Finally, on behalf of the Dean, clergy and staff of the cathedral, and my own behalf, a very Happy Easter to you and all your loved ones. May God bless you abundantly in this holiest of seasons.
[1] Jamie Logie, ‘The story behind the Choose Your Own Adventure books,’ Medium, 20 June 2020.
[2] Mt 2:2-10; 4:16; 17:2; 24:27; Lk 1:78; 2:32; 9:29; 17:24; Jn 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46. Cf. Mt 5:14-16; 13:43; 28:3; Lk 8:16; 11:34-36; 16:8; 24:4; Jn 5:35; Acts 9:3; 12:7; 13:47; 22:6-11; 26:13,18,23; Rom 2:19; 13:12; 1Cor 3:13; 4:5; 2Cor 4:4-6; 6:14; Eph 5:8-9,13; Col 1:12; 1Thess 5:5; 1Tim 6:16; 2Tim 1:10; Tit 1:3; Heb 10:32; Jas 1:17; 1Pet 2:9; 2Pet 1:19; 1Jn 1:5-7; 2:8-10; Rev 18:23; 21:23-24; 22:5.
[3] E.g. Gen 2:4-15; 3:8; Num 24:6; Ps 104; Isa 51:3; 58:11; Jer 31:12; Amos 9:14; Song 6:2; Jn 15:1-17; Rom 11:17.
[4] Tess Livingstone, ‘Catholic Church sees record surge as young adults flock to Easter baptisms,’ Australian 3 April 2026.
