The Easter Itinerary

IF YOU SEARCH through the Bible looking up the few references to eggs, you won’t find a single text which makes any kind of connection to Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. Yet, if you search your own memory concerning Easter you will certainly remember baskets of brightly coloured eggs along with Easter egg hunts. The connection between Easter and eggs is a mysterious and tenuous one. It has been traced in the West to 1290 when court records indicate that Edward I, King of England, distributed 450 eggs – some covered with gold – to the royal household at Easter. In some European countries, Christians would bring eggs to church for a blessing the day before Easter.

One legend traces the egg all the way back to Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom Jesus expelled seven demons. The last glimpse of her in Scripture takes place on the first Easter when she encounters the Risen Christ at the empty tomb and then informs the disciples (John 20:18). However, according to the Orthodox tradition, Mary then went to Rome and appeared at Emperor Tiberius’ court. There she protested Pilate’s poor administration of justice at Jesus’ trial, and announced to the court that Jesus had risen from the dead. She picked up an egg from the table using it as an object lesson to explain Resurrection as new life breaking out.

Tiberius was incredulous, declaring that a person could no more rise from the dead than the egg Mary was holding could turn red. Immediately, the egg did turn red. That’s why today it is common among Orthodox Christians to dye eggs red.

The 40 days leading up to Easter are the most important ones of the Church year. While many practices and services are familiar to most people, some Easter customs, the language of Lent (such as Maundy Thursday), and even the dating of Easter are confusing to many people. Here is an Easter and Lenten fact sheet.

Easter Lily

At Easter, Christian churches commonly fill their altars and surround their crosses with masses of Easter lilies to commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus and the hope of life everlasting. The lily is associated with Christ because of two Old Testament passages. One is in the Song of Songs 2 (the Song of Solomon): “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Christians have interpreted this verse as a reference to Christ who is their ‘lily of the valley’. The other reference is found in Hosea through whom God promises a resurrection to Israel if the nation repents. The word reads: “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely… he (Israel) will blossom like a lily.” (Hosea 14:4-5) Lilies are said to have been found growing in the garden of Gethsemane after Christ’s night of agony. Tradition indicates that the beautiful white lilies sprang up where drops of Christ’s perspiration fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and distress.

Shrove Tuesday

 This feast (also called “Fat Tuesday”) is simply the day before Lent begins. No one is certain of the origin of the term ‘shrove’, but some linguists believe it is derived from the old English word ‘shrive’, meaning to confess. During the early middle ages, Christians were required to attend confession in the week immediately before Lent. Since the Lenten season was one of fasting, Christians came to do much feasting right before fasting. This took place on Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. On Tuesday Christians came together to eat and celebrate in ways which were prohibited during Lent. Many of the foods eaten on Tuesday were sweets, thus the term ‘Fat Tuesday’. Even today many churches have an annual pancake dinner on Shrove Tuesday.

Lent

This period of spiritual preparation officially begins 40 days before Easter. Traditionally it is a time of fasting, cutting back on the amount of food eaten and reducing consumption of meat. It is also a time when Christians reflect on the life of Christ as well as their own spiritual lives. Lent is a time to correct some personal faults and shortcomings by confessing these in prayer, asking God’s forgiveness and seeking God’s help to live a more authentic Christian life.

Ash Wednesday

This is the first day of Lent. The earliest observation dates back to the sixth century. In Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches a special service is held. At that service the priest or minister applies an ash cross on the forehead of worshippers. The ashes made from the previous year’s Palm Sunday in which the palm leaves are burned and crushed into ashes.

Palm Sunday

This celebration recalls a high point in Jesus’ life and ministry. (See Matthew 21:8-9 for the Biblical account). Just as an American president is greeted by crowds waving American flags, Jesus was greeted by enormous crowds waving palms cut down from nearby palm trees. The New Testament welcoming crowd was our equivalent of a ticker tape parade for a returning hero. On Palm Sunday Jesus was treated as a great dignitary. However, fame is fleeting. In less than a week, Jesus was abandoned by everyone, including His own disciples.

Maundy Thursday

This expression comes from the Latin word ‘mandatum novum’ meaning new mandate or new commandment. It was on Thursday that Jesus gave us a new commandment: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The Mass of Chrism comes once a year to your cathedral on Holy Thursday. During the Mass, your bishop will bless the oil of catechumens, the oil of the sick, and the oil of chrism. The first is used for adult catechumens and infants, the second for anointing the sick, and the sacred oil of chrism for baptism, confirmation, the ordination of priests, and the consecration of altars.

All three are basically an olive oil; chrism spices the air with the scent of a perfume, traditionally balsam.

However, the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper is the principal liturgy of Holy Thursday, the solemn beginning of the Easter Triduum.

Good Friday

This term is actually a misnomer because it was really a ‘bad’ Friday – the crucifixion day of Jesus. Originally the day was called “God’s Friday,” but somehow became lengthened into Good Friday. Some, however, hold to the view that ‘Good Friday’ refers to the good gift of salvation brought out by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The liturgy for this day is the most simple of all days during the liturgical year. The Liturgy of the Passion and Death of Our Lord consists of three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and the Service of Communion.

One of the most familiar Catholic devotional exercises in which the participants focus their prayer on Christ’s Passion is the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross.

Last year, reflecting on the events of Good Friday during the Way of the Cross at the Coliseum, Pope Benedict said, “By following Jesus on the way to His Passion, we not only see the Passion of Jesus, but we also see all the suffering in the world, and this is the profound intention of the prayer of the Way of the Cross: to open our hearts and to help us to see with our hearts… Being converted to Christ, becoming Christians, means receiving a heart of flesh, a heart sensitive to the passion and suffering of others.”

Holy Saturday

The observance of Holy Saturday evolved in the Church after the fourth century. Prior to that time, only Easter was recognized as a holy or special day. However, during the fourth century all the days of the week prior to Easter were established as holy days.

Christians marked Holy Saturday by fasting in preparation for the easter festival to follow. Then, after sundown, they commenced a vigil that lasted all night and concluded with Baptism and Eucharist at dawn. In the Middle Ages, however, many of the services attached to the Easter Vigil were transferred to Holy Saturday morning.

In 1951 Pope Pius XII restored the ancient Easter Vigil, paving the way for Holy Saturday to return to its ancient character as a day of preparation.

Easter Sunday

This is the central day of Easter – the actual day of Christ’s resurrection. It is also the most important day of the Church year. The date varies from year to year because the Council of Nicaea (325) determined that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox (there are two times during the year when the length of day and night are equal: the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox). The word ‘Easter’ is probably derived from the Goddess of Spring, Eostre. Many congregations hold an annual Easter sunrise service. This comes from the fact that “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” first learned of Christ’s resurrection “at dawn on the first day of the week.” (Matthew 28:1)

Divine Mercy Sunday

Also called the “Feast of the Divine Mercy,” this day falls on the Sunday immediately following Easter. As the name implies, it is a day devoted to prayer and reflection of divine mercy as promoted by a Polish nun, Sister Faustina. Beginning on February 22, 1931, Sister Faustina reported seeing visions of Jesus, hearing Him speak to her soul. According to her entries in her diaries, Sister Faustina said Jesus made the following statements about the Sunday after Easter: “On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” This devotion was celebrated informally and unofficially in many communities as reports of her visions spread. On April 30, 2000 – Divine Mercy Sunday of that year – Pope John Paul II canonized Faustina, and designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the Roman Calendar. The Holy Father also decreed a plenary indulgence associated with this devotion.