Easter Traditions

Its EASTER! This is going to be one of those periods of time in the year that I am incredibly grateful that I work for the Catholic Church. The reason is simple and, as my constant readers will attest, the most important to me in my life. My Family.

They will 5286 miles away in Nottingham. They'll all be in the same house I would wager, and I'm here. On Easter Sunday I shall be working...In fact I'm working everyday, in part, of the Sacred Triduum. This is good because the distraction will keep me from feeling lonely...well TOO lonely at least.

Only 49 days to go...

So, instead of this being a self-indulgent "I miss my family" BLOG; I'd like to talk about Easter.

As you will know, if you read my St Valentine entry, I find it amusing (if not a little annoying) that most people in this World, religious or not, celebrate ALL the Christian Holy Days.
It might amuse some of you to know that the word we use to describe going abroad for some R&R (not you Americans - hey you got one thing right!) is derived from HOLY and DAY - HOLIDAY. Basically, the only time you were allowed to not be at work was when you were granted a HOLY DAY to be at Church, listen to the Word of God, got to Communion, and celebrate the life of someone who gave theirs for us (or in Saints for their Faith).

The biggest, most important week in the Christian (and Jewish) calendar is upon us. We are about to celebrate the Passover. The Last Supper in Christian lingo. I love this celebration because it unites us with our roots. Judaism. Doesn't it make you laugh when you ask some people what Religion Jesus was and they say: "Uh, Christian?!" - as if YOU'RE the dumb-ass!

As the New Testement states (and we hear in every mass we attend): The night before he died, he took bread... Jesus celebrated the Passover with his Disciples in remembrance of the Israelites journey from bondage in Egypt. They had no time to bake bread and wait for it to ris so they baked bread with no yeast (un-leavened) which obviously doesn't rise. They also have such things as salt water (tears) and bitter herbs to commemorate the suffering of their ancestors before they were delivered into the "Promised Land".

I love these traditions that we share. Our Mass is based on this, and this weekend we remember more clearly than ever the suffering of the Israelites and the suffering of Jesus.

I hope that, if you didn't know these small facts before, you learned something. I just like to write this stuff down every now and then...not necessarily to educate but to just have it out there. Also, if there is inaccuracies; I ask your pardon and request education in the form of a comment.

Have a happy and Holy Easter.