What every Christian should know about Passover
Passover begins Monday evening. The
week-long feast takes place on the first night of the first full moon of
spring. Passover commemorates the
liberation of the Israelites from oppression in Egypt as described in the Book
of Exodus. During that event, 10 plagues were inflicted upon the Egyptians
before Pharaoh freed the Israelites.
During the 10th plague, the death of the Egyptian first-born,
the Israelites were told to eat the meat of an unblemished (Paschal) lamb and
to mark their doorposts with its blood.
Upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord would pass over the first-born in these homes. When Pharaoh finally freed the Israelites, it
is believed that they left in such a hurry, they could not wait for their bread
to rise. For this reason, no leavened
bread is eaten during the festival of Passover. Jews further observe the memory of Passover either by eating a lamb or by simply
having a symbolic shankbone on a plate during the Seder Meal, the central
ritual of Passover.
Though Passover is primarily a Jewish feast, it is, in many
ways, the foundation for the Christian celebration of Easter. The emancipation of the Israelites as told in
Exodus is proclaimed at the Easter Vigil liturgy because it foreshadows Christ’s liberation of
humanity. The image of the Passover or
sacrificial lamb is seen as prefiguring Christ as the Passover Lamb or the Lamb of
God. According to John’s gospel, (John
19:14), Jesus is believed to have died on the day of preparation for the
Passover at the hour when the lambs for the feast were being slaughtered. This is why the date of Easter takes place
near Passover. Like the Jewish feast of
Passover, the date of Easter is determined by the first full moon of spring,
taking place on the Sunday following the vernal equinox. The prayers of blessing that are said during
the Seder Meal form the basis of our Eucharistic Prayers. The food and drink consumed during the Seder, unleavened bread and wine, are the primary food and drink of our
Eucharistic meal. So, as we prepare to
celebrate Easter, let us also recall our Jewish sisters and brothers as
together we remember and celebrate the faithfulness of God.
The Ripple Affect
Whenever I pull into a
grocery store parking lot I’m often struck by how many shopping carts are
scattered all over the place. Could it
be that the carts have a mind of their own?
That they drive themselves all over Kroger-town or Publix-town to
compete for shoppers’ attention? More
than likely after shoppers unload their paper towels, pampers and peas, they
are just too tired or too lazy to return their cart to its corral or even,
heaven forbid, to the store itself. This
may seem trivial, but the ramifications are anything but; other shoppers can’t
easily park because there are shopping carts in the way. A strong gust of wind might blow a cart into
a car, damaging both the cart and the car.
The grocery store has to repair or replace the cart, passing the expense
onto the consumer by raising the price of groceries. The point is that everything we do, or don’t
do, has an effect on someone else. This
is why the Church teaches that sin is both individual and communal. Our sins not only hurt ourselves but they
have the potential to harm society as well.
Much of the time, we aren’t aware of how our words and actions affect
others. So the Church gives us something
called an Examination of Conscience to help us recognize our sins. The
examination of conscience can be traced back to St. Paul who encouraged the
faithful in Corinth to examine themselves before participating in the
Eucharist. Today the examination of
conscience exists in many different formats, even in an app. Ignatius of Loyola called the Examen a gift
that came directly from God so he included it in his famous Spiritual Exercises
and encouraged the faithful to practice on a daily basis. But, unlike most examinations which focus on
our actions, the daily Examen focuses on God’s presence, helping us to see
God’s hand at work through our experiences.
Ignatius knew that the more we are aware of God’s presence, the less
likely we are to sin. The daily Examen
is a good practice to begin especially as we prepare for Holy Week.
Mystery Meals
So, what did you do
during those snow days? If we took a poll,
I bet cleaning would rank among the top 10 activities. I took the opportunity to clean out some bins
in the garage. In one of them I found a
bag of Mom’s old recipes. What a
treasure! My taste buds were dancing at
the thought of re-creating some of my favorite childhood treats like Apple Squares
and Cinnamon Rolls. But, about one third
of the recipes had no names on them.
They were lists of raw ingredients that I imagine my Mother quickly scribbled
from a fast-talking chef on TV. There is
no telling what those fixings might fix.
The recipes remain unfinished.
We are like those
unfinished recipes. Lent is a good time
to recognize the raw ingredients of our humanity, to allow God to mix, to
blend, to knead and to reshape us. Like
my Mother’s untitled recipes, we have no idea what we
shall become, but we are called to surrender ourselves into the hands of the
Master Chef.
As we continue our
Lenten journey, here is a meatless recipe from one of our parishioners:
Chiles Rellenos –
serves 6
Ingredients
6 poblano chiles
1 ½ lb. of Cotija
cheese or cheese of your choice
1 large pkg. sour
cream
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 chicken bouillon
cubes
5 eggs
2 T flour
Char chiles on an
open flame or by quick-frying in oil. Remove
outer skin. Slice the chile and remove seeds. Fill the chile with cheese and hold together
with toothpicks.
Separate egg yolks
from egg whites. Beat egg whites until
stiff. Beat in yolks and two
tablespoons of flour. Dip the chiles in
the egg mixture and fry them in oil until both sides are browned. In a large frying pan, saute chopped onion
and garlic until onions are translucent.
Add sour cream then bouillon cubes and bring to slight boil. If mixture is too thick, add hot milk. Add chiles and cover allowing the chiles to
soak up the cream. Serve with your
favorite rice.
Vatican II at 50 - Liturgical Space
Whenever I go to a gathering in someone’s home it
seems everyone always gathers in the kitchen—no matter how big the house! Perhaps it’s the anticipation of a feast or
the promise of the intimacy of sharing a meal.
Whatever the reason one thing is clear:
food gathers people together.
From the earliest days, the Church has gathered around the
sacred meal. The early Church gathered
in homes to remember the person of Jesus by telling stories about his life and
by sharing a communal meal. The growth
of Christianity meant having to find spaces which could accommodate more
people. Not surprisingly, church
buildings often reflected the architecture of the day. For example, the basilica, a building used
for public meetings, became the style used for the first churches. Throughout the Church’s history, church
buildings often reflected not only the design of the day but also the thinking
and theology of the time. In the Middle
Ages, for example, when the liturgical action was performed exclusively by the
clergy, churches took on the majestic style of the Gothic, which personified the
hierarchy of the Church and the hierarchical vision of the Medieval universe by
separating the assembly from the liturgical action.
The Second Vatican Council, with its emphasis on
the assembly’s “full, conscious, and active participation,” restored the
ancient image of the community gathered around the sacred meal. That’s why churches built after Vatican II are
designed to facilitate the unity and participation of the entire assembly.
Vatican II at 50 - Popular Devotions
Growing up in a town inhabited by European immigrants, I was immersed in the rituals of popular devotion. As a child, I participated in Stations of the Cross, Forty Hour Devotions and “never-fail-novena” prayers, where (I thought) I was promised whatever I wanted just for showing up nine Tuesdays in a row. So, I asked for a horse!!! I was in love with horses and thought this was the way to get one. After all, there was a contract involved, and I held up my end of the bargain! I never got a horse, but, what I did get was a sense for different forms of worship outside Sunday Mass.
Unlike the Sacraments, popular devotions can’t be traced back to the Scriptures and the ministry of Jesus. Most developed gradually over years and even centuries as people in different cultures looked for different ways to live out their faith. Some examples are: blessing candles and throats, receiving ashes and palms, pilgrimages, novenas, processions, the veneration of relics, the rosary and celebrations in honor of Mary, the blessing of medals, scapulars, statues and sacred pictures.
Though not as popular as they once were, devotions are still a part of the faith life of many Catholics. The authors of the Second Vatican Council endorsed sound popular devotions, but they also pointed out that the life of the Church centers on the liturgy--the Eucharist and the other six sacraments, as well as the Liturgy of the Hours, and the other official rites of the Church, such as the Order of Christian Funerals:
Every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its effectiveness by the same title and to the same degree. Sacrosanctum Concilium #7.
What this means is that the Eucharistic liturgy is the norm. Popular devotions should foster our liturgical prayer. That is, they should flow from and lead back to a fuller participation in the liturgy—back to an intimate union with God, with our brothers and sisters and the new life which that union brings. Amen!