Easter Spirituality

For years, the mysteries of Holy Week have thrilled my theological and anthropological interests. Beginning with Palm Sunday the readings, the music, the ritual actions and movements annually introduce us to the very roots of who we are as a believing community. The answer finally comes to the questioning by the disciples of “what to rise from the dead means?”

Beginning with the restoration of Holy Week by Pope Pius XII in 1952, believers have come to a fuller awareness of the so-called “Paschal Mystery” proclaimed throughout the liturgical theology of the Second Vatican Council. “Paschal” has to do with “Passover”, in the sense of the Jewish scriptures and the Passover from Egypt to the Promised Land, and in the fuller sense of passing-over from death to life in Christ.

The spirituality of the Council celebrated in the liturgy is Baptismal and Eucharistic. The shape of our Christian living is formed in our baptismal washing and anointing in the Spirit. In Baptism we have learned that we were buried in Christ Jesus and have risen in him in the waters of baptism. The anointing at Confirmation is seen increasingly as coming from our baptismal encounter with Christ and our introduction into his Body, the Church.

The Easter Vigil
The highpoint of Holy Week, which renews the Church annually, is the Easter Vigil. On that night the darkness in scattered, the covenantal Word is again spoken in the history of God’s People, and new believers are plunged into the baptismal waters and anointed with the Holy Spirit. They then are welcomed to the Lord’s Table for the first time. Their story in Christ is a remembrance of all of our stories. We are a People who have died and risen with Christ and celebrate the victory feast of the Eucharist.

We are a Eucharistic People having passed from death to life. We are Spirit filled. The Easter Vigil allows us to experience the Easter to Pentecost experience of the early church believers. The days proceeding Easter Sunday, the Triduum, are the great celebration of the Easter mysteries. Actually, the mysteries are our encounter with the great mystery which is Christ himself.

In the rituals, music, gestures, and words of the Triduum we are moved within the mystery which is Christ. The ritual is just the beginning of the journey in which we continually pass from death to life in Christ.

Holy Thursday
To pass through the Paschal Mystery one needs to pass through the rites of the whole Triduum. Each day is best lived as part of the whole. Holy Thursday begins the journey of faith, where we remember the Lord’s Supper. In the remembrance we become the very Body of Christ, which is blessed, broken and given for the life of all. In the cup of remembrance we become the People who are set apart, blessed, poured out and given for the shared life of the community. We are reminded that the Eucharist looks and has meaning as feet are washed in loving service of the Body of Christ.

Good friday
Holy Thursday folds into Good Friday, where we are focused of the Solemn Reading of John’s Passion. This is the story told from the beginning of the Church of how Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection allow us to Passover from death to life, from darkness to light, and from sin to forgiveness. This is the day of victory over sin and death. The sadness of Good Friday ends silently with openness to the powerful action of the Father in Jesus’ resurrection. The liturgy is remembrance for us as we live in the community’s passing over in Christ Jesus.

Living Easter
For the Christian community, Easter does not end in ritual observance as wonderful as that may be. Easter begins as we are sent from the Easter mysteries to be a People who know how to die and rise in Christ Jesus. The liturgical rituals will enliven our daily living as we struggle to know “what it is to rise from the dead.” The challenge of an Easter spirituality is to allow ourselves to be embraced by the liturgical metaphors and to integrate them as our lifestyle as a people, as the song says, “Alive in Christ Jesus,” everyday.

We will have the Fifty Great Days of Easter to be that People that St. Ephrem describes as “alleluia from head to toe”. Easter is not make-believe, but the transformed reality of who we are. Such is the journey of Passover spirituality in our lives.

CDH