“I plead with you—never ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” -St. Pope John Paul II
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All posts tagged Easter
Hope
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on April 5, 2015
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/hope-2/
Pondering Ash Wednesday.
Image@http://juventutembristol.blogspot.co.uk
‘Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return’ [Ash Wednesday liturgy]
Julian Falat,
Ash Wednesday
image@http://www.jucoolimages.com/ash_wednesday.php
Interesting Facts About Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. It is a day when we reflect on our own mortality and the need for repentance because the end can come at any time. The ash cross that we receive on our forehead is a physical reminder that we will someday return back to ash. During this day, Catholics are placed into a proper mindset for the Lenten Season. While preparing for Easter, Catholics purify the body and soul through fasting, abstinence, prayer, confession, and works of mercy. In other words, mortification and penance. The focus on our own mortality during Ash Wednesday sets us up for a good Lent that is then counter balanced by the celebration of Christ’s triumph over death at Easter.
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on February 12, 2013
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/pondering-ash-wednesday/
Shrove Tuesday.
The long build up to Easter is called Lent. The day before Lent begins is called Shrove Tuesday. ‘Shrove’ means being forgiven for wrong-doings. It happens on a different date each year depending on when Easter is. This year Shrove Tuesday is on 12 February, 2013.
Another name for Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Day. Long ago this was a day for feasting and having a good time. People would go to church to confess the bad things they had done and would be ‘shriven’ or forgiven before the start of Lent. Since rich foods such as eggs were forbidden during Lent, one way of using them up would be to make pancakes.
Background and Symbols
According to Christian tradition, Lent commemorates the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness so observant Christians marked this event by fasting. Many people used ingredients, such as eggs and milk, to prepare pancakes on Shrove Tuesday prior to the fasting period. Pancake races have been held in England for more than 500 years. Some sources suggest that they may have started in 1445.
One old English custom associated with Pancake Day was the annual pancake grease at London’s Westminster where schoolboys would fight for pancakes to gain monetary awards. Another tradition was Mischief Night, where some people would go into houses in disguise and ask for pancakes.
Many people still make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and in some parts of the UK people run in pancake races. This custom grew up because of the legend which dates from well over 500 years ago in 1445. On Shrove Tuesday one woman was still making her pancakes as the church bells rang out. Rather than be late she took her frying pan and pancake with her.
One of the most famous pancake races is held in Olney, Buckinghamshire. The race has been held for hundreds of years. Competitors need to be women over 18 years of age who must wear a skirt, an apron and head covering. They have to toss their pancake on the start line and again at the finish to prove they haven’t lost it.
In France and the United States Pancake day is called Mardi Gras which means ‘Fat’ or ‘Grease Tuesday’.
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on February 11, 2013
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/shrove-tuesday/
Mary our Mother.
Image @imva.info
We need to give special honor to Mary who is not only the Mother of our Lord, but our Mother as well.
In the Gospel of John, we listen to Jesus’ words as He hung upon the Cross: “Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother’” (Jn 19:27). Jesus was speaking to John at that point, but it is commonly understood that John stands in proxy for us. That is to say, in speaking to John, Jesus was speaking to all disciples when He pointed to His Mother and said, “Behold, your mother.” And so, Mary is our Mother. The Mother of the Head (Jesus) is also the Mother of the Body (us), and as John took Mary into her home, we must take her into our hearts.
Like all mothers, Mary gives us life. By the sin of Eve, death was brought into the world. By her obedience, Mary brought life into the world making it possible for life to be restored to our souls. That’s why we say that Mary is our Mother in the order of grace (Lumen Gentium, 61). Mary gave the world not just life, but Him who is Life itself.
Like all mothers, Mary is a teacher. When she said “yes” to the angel Gabriel’s message, she taught us how to have faith. She taught us the importance of obedience to the will of God. She taught us that we must always be willing to say “yes” to God even when we might not understand what He is asking of us. She taught us that being humble doesn’t mean that you are weak. In fact, it takes great strength to live a humble life.
Like all mothers, Mary guides us along the right path. At the wedding in Cana (John 2), when they ran out of wine, it was Mary who brought this problem to Jesus. Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary’s whole purpose is to guide us to Jesus. This is why we draw close to Mary – she will always bring us to Jesus.
In 2006, Pope Benedict explained to the world Mary’s role as mother and teacher:
In the days that followed the Lord’s Resurrection, the Apostles stayed together, comforted by Mary’s presence, and after the Ascension they persevered with her in prayerful expectation of Pentecost. Our Lady was a mother and teacher to them, a role that she continues to play for Christians of all times.
Every year, at Eastertide, we relive this experience more intensely and perhaps, precisely for this reason, popular tradition has dedicated to Mary the month of May that normally falls between Easter and Pentecost. Consequently, this month…helps us to rediscover the maternal role that she plays in our lives so that we may always be docile disciples and courageous witnesses of the Risen Lord.
May we allow Mary to be our Mother so that she can nurture, teach, and guide us on the way to Salvation.
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on May 19, 2012
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/mary-our-mother/
Soulfood
Walk of Witness down the High Street
Every year on the morning of Good Friday, the Churches Together gather together to process down the High Street in a Walk of Witness. As we walked along attesting to our Faith as Christians, volunteers walked alongside us handing out Bible verses and Easter treats. There were more Walkers this year and it felt great. I think I ‘m beginning to see a glimmer of light with regard to the Ecumenical gatherings. It’s important for Christians of all denominations to stand firm on of matters of Faith, especially on Good Friday. The Choir treated us to beautiful sung harmonies. Overall, and uplifting experience.
I missed the last twenty minutes or so f the service, as we were aiming to get to Trafalgar Square for the twelve o’ clock showing of the ‘Passion of Jesus’, put on by the fantastic cast of the Wintershall Estate. This was our first viewing of ‘The Passion of Jesus’.
It takes place on an open air stage, viewed by thousands of onlookers, surging to get the clearest view of the actors in this beautiful play. (Next year I’ll make sure we get there early enough for front seat viewing!) The sound was perfect, considering the vast area covered during the performance and the competing central London traffic and hoards of tourists walking by. There was an enormous screen on which the live acting was being screened, so that it didn’t matter whether you weren’t able to see the actors you would still be able to watch them on the big screen, and hear them clearly.
The story of The Passion began with a narrator’s introduction, and from that moment on the crowd was hooked! Besides a little shuffling and readjusting to begin with, the group we were standing with were rooted to the spot. As the story progressed I was drawn into the play as an onlooker and participant, as was the rest of the audience. I heard nothing but what the actors were saying. I didn’t hear any traffic, but was acutely aware of this dramatic story being played out in one of the most exciting, thronging capital cities of the world! As I watched and listened, I was humbled by this ‘simple’ , clear biography of Someone dying a torturous death for me. For me!! It felt like the first time I ‘d heard this story. And it seemed to the same for all who were gathered together on the Holiest days of the Christian calendar. You could literally hear a pin drop as the play progressed. Everyone drawn into the Life-Giving story of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, which is actually so simple. What spoke to me most was the Humility of Our Lord in the acceptance of His Work as directed by His Father. His acceptance of the importance of His Ultimate Sacrifice in the story of our salvation. I was brought to tears by the Crucifixion scene and Our Lord’s reaching out, even on the Cross, to his fellow humans. Two hours of this Magnificence ended on a high note with shouts of Alleluia, and ongoing clapping from the audience.
The cherry on the cake for me was the appearance of Bishop Vincent Nichols short address and finally praying with thousands of others the Our Father as in one voice.
This has truly been a Holy week to remember for me, and I look forward to next year, when I ‘ll meet the Lord in yet another way, on my Journey of Faith.
(All images taken by 1catholicsalmon)
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on April 10, 2012
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/soulfood/
7 Facts: Holy Week and the Early Church
image from pastorstrey.wordpress.com
1. The Gospels Antiquity of the Celebration of Holy Week
From an attentive study of the Gospels, and particularly that of St. John, it might easily be inferred that already in Apostolic times a certain emphasis was laid upon the memory of the last week of Jesus Christ’s mortal life. The supper at Bethania must have taken place on the Saturday, “six days before the pasch” (John 12:1-2), and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem was made from there next morning.1
2. 4th Century: Pilgrimage of Ætheria
Of Christ’s words and deeds between this and His Crucifixion we have a relatively full record. But whether this feeling of the sanctity belonging to these days was primitive or not, it in any case existed in Jerusalem at the close of the fourth century, for the Pilgrimage of Ætheria contains a detailed account of the whole week, beginning with the service in the “Lazarium” at Bethania on the Saturday, in the course of which was read the narrative of the anointing of Christ’s feet. Moreover, on the next day, which, as Ætheria says, “began the week of the Pasch, which they call here the “Great Week”, a special reminder was addressed to the people by the archdeacon in these terms: “Throughout the whole week, beginning from to-morrow, let us all assemble in the Martyrium, that is the great church, at the ninth hour.” The commemoration of Christ’s triumphal entry into the city took place the same afternoon.
3. Rituals at the Mount of Olives
Great crowds, including even children too young to walk, assembled on the Mount of Olives and after suitable hymns, and antiphons, and readings, they returned in procession to Jerusalem, escorting the bishop, and bearing palms and branches of olives before him. Special services in addition to the usual daily Office are also mentioned on each of the following days. On the Thursday the Liturgy was celebrated in the late afternoon, and all Communicated, after which the people went to the Mount of Olives to commemorate with appropriate readings and hymns the agony of Christ in the garden and His arrest, only returning to the city as day began to dawn on the Friday.
4. Friday
On the Friday again there were many services, and in particular before midday there took place the veneration of the great relic of the True Cross, as also of the title which had been fastened to it; while for three hours after midday another crowded service was held in commemoration of the Passion of Christ, at which, Ætheria tells us, the sobs and lamentations of the people exceeded all description. Exhausted as they must have been, a vigil was again maintained by the younger and stronger of the clergy and by some of the laity.
5. Saturday
On the Saturday, besides the usual offices during the day, there took place the great paschal vigil in the evening, with the baptism of children and catechumens. But this, as Ætheria implies, was already familiar to her in the West. The account just summarized belongs probably to the year 388, and it is of the highest value as coming from a pilgrim and an eyewitness who had evidently followed the services with close attention.
6. Six Holy and Great Days
Still the observance of Holy Week as a specially sacred commemoration must be considerably older. In the first of his festal letters, written in 329, St. Athanasius of Alexandria speaks of the severe fast maintained during “those six holy and great days [preceding Easter Sunday] which are the symbol of the creation of the world”. He refers, seemingly, to some ancient symbolism which strangely reappears in the Anglo-Saxon martyrologium of King Alfred’s time. Further he writes, in 331: “We begin the holy week of the great pasch on the tenth of Pharmuthi in which we should observe more prolonged prayers and fastings and watchings, that we may be enabled to anoint our lintels with the precious blood and so escape the destroyer.”
7. Constantine & Ante-Constantine
From these and other references, e.g., in St. Chrysostom, the Apostolic Constitutions, and other sources, including a somewhat doubtfully authentic edict of Constantine proclaiming that the public business should be suspended in Holy Week, it seems probable that throughout the Christian world some sort of observance of these six days by fasting and prayer had been adopted almost everywhere by Christians before the end of the fourth century. Indeed it is quite possible that the fast of special severity is considerably older, for Dionysius of Alexandria (c. A.D. 260) speaks of some who went without food for the whole six days (see further under LENT). The week was also known as the week of the dry fast (xerophagia), while some of its observances were very possibly influenced by an erroneous etymology of the word Pasch, which was current among the Greeks. Pasch really comes from a Hebrew meaning “passage” (of the destroying angel), but the Greeks took it to be identical with paschein, to suffer.
SOURCE: The entirety of the article is quoted from the first section of the Catholic Encyclopedia’s article on Holy Week
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on April 5, 2012
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/7-facts-holy-week-and-the-early-church/
How does the Church celebrate Holy Thursday?
This video clip can be viewed at the Rome Reports website.
Posted by 1catholicsalmon on April 4, 2012
https://1catholicsalmon.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/how-does-the-church-celebrate-holy-thursday/
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