Dear Parishioners,

Today we begin that week which every year we call Holy. In the purest understanding, we believe that all time is holy. Time cannot be considered “profane” since all time is consecrated by the Grace of the Incarnation. Thus every moment in this human construct that we label “time” is sacramental and capable of revealing some aspect of divinity. But by annually designating this one week as Holy, we are able to re-discover the root of that holiness in what we call Pascha. This allows us to deepen our appreciation for the Christian faith and helps us continue the work of Jesus in a more credible manner.

Pascha is the Greek and Latin word derived from the Hebrew Pesach, or in English, Passover. The very word evokes the notion of transition from one reality to another. For the Jewish people, Passover is the feast that commemorates their liberation from bondage in Egypt that most likely occurred during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II. It was in this historical event that God enlisted and empowered Moses to lead the people of Israel from a place of affliction and servitude to a place of freedom and new identity—a land “flowing with milk and honey,” as described by the biblical writers.

But the first Christians, who were also Jews, did not believe they were separating themselves from their Jewish heritage, and so they continued to use the word Pascha to refer to this Jewish feast of Passover, but also to the event of Jesus’ death and resurrection. What happened to Jesus not only occurred during the time of Passover but, in their understanding, transformed it and gave it a definitive meaning. Pascha became a unified feast that celebrated the Lord’s death and resurrection. Over time, this feast would unfold with various layers of meaning that would get ritualized in various liturgical ways.

Today, mainline Christian churches celebrate the “Paschal Triduum”—three days that are erroneously thought of as Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. When we speak of the “Paschal Triduum,” we are actually referring to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Holy Week, since in the ancient Jewish manner of counting time, a new day began at sunset. Therefore, Friday began on Thursday eve, Saturday began on Friday eve, and Sunday began on Saturday eve. It is imperative to remember that while historically we separated out those final moments of Jesus’ life according to: the night of the Last Supper, the crucifixion on Friday afternoon, and the resurrection on Sunday morning, from a theological perspective, there is only one event—the Paschal Mystery or Pascha.

The reason why the word Pascha is preferable to the commonly used word “Easter” is because “Easter” simply refers to one day, i.e., Sunday. One might also object to using the word “Easter” to denote a Christian feast because it is derived from the name Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility, who is celebrated in the spring. While the symbolism of natural fertility complements the theological symbolism of new life, the word still weakens the meaning of what we Christians celebrate at Pascha—the death and resurrection of Jesus.

When we speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus, therefore, we ought not to think of these as two distinct events that moved in a linear manner from a moment of tragedy to a moment of victory. A more apt way of understanding this mystery is to recognize it as a dynamic movement of death and life that is woven together as part of God’s great design for all of creation.

All these linguistic and theological distinctions may not make an enormous impact on how we will celebrate Easter one week from today. They could, however, give us new lenses through which we see reality. As we recognize this dynamic movement of death and life that emerges organically and uniquely in each of our lives, we come to a greater appreciation of how we participate in the Pascha of Jesus Christ. This might deepen our gratitude for the privilege of sharing in the ongoing work of redemption that Jesus began.

The following reflection by Guerric DeBona, a Benedictine monk from St. Meinrad Archabbey IN, is a lovely example of recognizing the way we participate ritually in the mystery of Pascha. Note how exquisitely Fr. Guerric highlights some of the symbols and postures from the Holy Week liturgies that express the Pascha as a unified feast of Christ’s death and resurrection made present in the Eucharist.

Holy Thursday

This is a night without words. We only have memory. Tomorrow we will lie flat on the ground because, without Christ, there is, in the end, nothing left to say.

So we are in the midst of a cloud of remembrance, which has settled on all of us here: God’s Angel, Jesus, who, instead of taking flight, washed our feet first with water and then with His own blood.

This is the night of golden memory when the bread and the cup were forever transformed, transfixed and transubstantiated into our divine manna for our journey through the desert.

This is the memorial of the act of divine humility that asks only that we do the same.

What we do is in remembrance of Him who remembered us into this moment. Let us sit down with Him now and eat. Without words.

With only gratitude for what must remain the silence of God’s unfathomable, unconquerable love.

May all of us have a blessed, memorable, and perhaps, life-changing celebration of Holy Week.

Fr. Gabriel, OSB

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