Christ Is Passover

And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." ~ Luke 22:15


I've been reading a lot about Passover and the traditions associated with this Holy Day, and I wish that our Church still celebrated it. I know the explanation of the Old Testament being fulfilled, but I still wish this tradition had been carried over. I know that the Sacrifice of the Mass is more important than any tradition. And I know that we also remember Christ Passion and His Great Sacrifice on Good Friday, and I love that Christ Is our Passover, but I think it would be nice to celebrate the traditions of Passover with all that in mind.

Passover sacrifice is offered at the Command of God. The sacrificial animal was always male, and without blemish. Each family or society offered one victim together. It was really a house or family sacrifice, something intimate, yet shared as a religious society as a whole.
I also read that the paschal sacrifice indicates the community between God and man.

I wish our Christian Faith had held onto some of the traditions of our Jewish roots and still celebrated them in much the same way that Jesus celebrated them.

Passover Prayer

Long ago, at this season, on such a night as this, a people - our people - set out on a journey.
All but crushed by their enslavement, they yet recalled the far-off memory of a happier past.
And heard the voice of their ancestral God, bidding them summon up the courage to be free.
Boldly, they went forth from Egypt, crossed the Sea, and headed through the desert for the Promised Land.
What they experienced, they remembered, and told their children, and they to theirs.
From generation to generation, the story was retold, and we are here to tell it yet again.
We too give thanks for Israel's liberation; we too remember what it means to be a slave.
And so we pray for all who are still fettered, still denied their human rights. Let all God's children sit at His table, drink the wine of deliverance, and eat the bread of freedom:

Freedom from bondage
And freedom from oppression,

Freedom from hunger
And freedom from want,

Freedom from hatred
And freedom from fear,

Freedom to think
And freedom to speak,

Freedom to learn
And freedom to love,

Freedom to hope
And freedom to rejoice;

Soon in our days,

Amen.



"Constantly remember the pains of our Crucified Love." ~ St. Paul of the Cross