Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
LENTEN TRIVIA!!
Hot Cross Buns are divided into 4 quarters because the Greeks and Romans used to make them like this to indicate the 4 quarters of the moon. They are eaten on Good Friday morning and are made with spices as a reminder of the spices in the Good Friday story in Luke's and John's Gospels!
Lent as a word comes from the lengthening of the days at this time of Year.
The Easter Egg is the sign of new life and was a part of pre-Christian Spring Festivals. For Christians this became a symbol of Christ breaking out of the tomb.
Purple is the Church's colour of preparation during Lent (and Advent).
The Paschal Candle is a large candle that is placed in the church and remains there for the entire chuech year. It is the symbol of the Risen Christ overcoming death and darkness. The date of the current year is inscribed on the candle as well as the letters A.D. (the year of the Lord).
New Easter Clothes: During the Middle Ages in Europe people in their New Easter Clothes would take a long walk after Easter Mass, in a kind of procession preceded by the Easter Candle. The tradition evolved and is especially popular in New York on 5th Avenue.
Easter From 'Eostre' a Spring Festival celebrating the goddess of Spring.
Spy Wednesday So called because of Judas' betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Good Friday The only day in the year that we call 'good'!!!!!! The word good is supposed to come from the word 'God'.
Maundy Thursday, otherwise known as Holy Thursday. From 'maundatum' meaning 'command' because of the commands that Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper
Lent as a word comes from the lengthening of the days at this time of Year.
The Easter Egg is the sign of new life and was a part of pre-Christian Spring Festivals. For Christians this became a symbol of Christ breaking out of the tomb.
Purple is the Church's colour of preparation during Lent (and Advent).
The Paschal Candle is a large candle that is placed in the church and remains there for the entire chuech year. It is the symbol of the Risen Christ overcoming death and darkness. The date of the current year is inscribed on the candle as well as the letters A.D. (the year of the Lord).
New Easter Clothes: During the Middle Ages in Europe people in their New Easter Clothes would take a long walk after Easter Mass, in a kind of procession preceded by the Easter Candle. The tradition evolved and is especially popular in New York on 5th Avenue.
Easter From 'Eostre' a Spring Festival celebrating the goddess of Spring.
Spy Wednesday So called because of Judas' betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Good Friday The only day in the year that we call 'good'!!!!!! The word good is supposed to come from the word 'God'.
Maundy Thursday, otherwise known as Holy Thursday. From 'maundatum' meaning 'command' because of the commands that Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper
Lent
Lent is a period of 40 days which precedes Holy Week. Holy Week then culminates in the great feast of Easter. Lent is widely known as a time when people give something up, when they sacrifice something that they will miss a little during these 40 days. Others, however, take something up - like attending mass more frequently or volunteering in community activities and so on.
Of course Lent finds its basis in the New Testament. Jesus is driven, directly after his baptism by John in the Jordan, into the wilderness for 40 days and is there tempted by the devil to deny the mission which was entrusted to him, the mission which would define his very existence. The story of Jesus' time in the desert can be found in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt. 4: 1-11). This is a clever literary technique used by Matthew and is indeed the summation of the whole Christian life. From the very moment of our baptism into Christ, we too are constantly being tempted away. We are shown the attractions of secularism, the freedom of immoral lives without consequences and the temptations of intemperance constantly encircle us. Jesus' resistence to temptation finds beautiful expression at the closure of this story: "Then the devil left him, and the angels appeared and looked after him." This too, is the promise that awaits us when we experience those little triumphs over temptation. This is what Matthew is trying to tell his largely Jewish-Christian community who were being persecuted by traditional Jews and who were being expelled from their local synagogues. They were being tempted away from their Christian mission. Matthew aligns both their sufferings and their providence with those of Jesus in the desert.
Imagine that desert place - it is not hard to do because most of us find ourselves there from time to time. Imagine the howling of the wind around the tall and rough stones. Imagine at night how terrifying the shadows would have been. The light of the world struggled against those shadows to be a certain kind of Messiah. He ignored the Jewish expectation of the Messiah. The Jews were expecting a powerful, political leader who would vindicate them and elevate them as a people. This is not who Jesus was. He left these expectations with John the Baptist in the Jordan. The defeat of satan by Jesus in the desert in the Gospel of Matthew prefigures the defeat of sin and death by Jesus at the crucifixion. Instead of falling down to worship satan in the desert, instead of testing God and throwing himself off a cliff, Jesus is seen, towards the end of the Gospel to be lifted, raised, elevated under the veil of the crucifixion.
And yet that crucifixion, that suffering, that death was very real. We have ideas and images of Jesus, of God and of ourselves. Most of the time, none of them are accurate. Jesus had no illusions. He didn't try to be someone, he tried not to be someone, he tried not to be that expected Messiah.
The desert experience is about deprivation. This deprivation is remembered at Lent and symbolised through the different sacrifices we make. God promises no trial beyond our ability to endure. But we are a mortal, flawed and sinful people who make misery and suffering for ourselves. But beyond all that we live in the hope of immortality because we have been baptised into Christ and because in every desert experience we have, where there are demons and isolation, there is always the hope of God's angels.
Of course Lent finds its basis in the New Testament. Jesus is driven, directly after his baptism by John in the Jordan, into the wilderness for 40 days and is there tempted by the devil to deny the mission which was entrusted to him, the mission which would define his very existence. The story of Jesus' time in the desert can be found in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt. 4: 1-11). This is a clever literary technique used by Matthew and is indeed the summation of the whole Christian life. From the very moment of our baptism into Christ, we too are constantly being tempted away. We are shown the attractions of secularism, the freedom of immoral lives without consequences and the temptations of intemperance constantly encircle us. Jesus' resistence to temptation finds beautiful expression at the closure of this story: "Then the devil left him, and the angels appeared and looked after him." This too, is the promise that awaits us when we experience those little triumphs over temptation. This is what Matthew is trying to tell his largely Jewish-Christian community who were being persecuted by traditional Jews and who were being expelled from their local synagogues. They were being tempted away from their Christian mission. Matthew aligns both their sufferings and their providence with those of Jesus in the desert.
Imagine that desert place - it is not hard to do because most of us find ourselves there from time to time. Imagine the howling of the wind around the tall and rough stones. Imagine at night how terrifying the shadows would have been. The light of the world struggled against those shadows to be a certain kind of Messiah. He ignored the Jewish expectation of the Messiah. The Jews were expecting a powerful, political leader who would vindicate them and elevate them as a people. This is not who Jesus was. He left these expectations with John the Baptist in the Jordan. The defeat of satan by Jesus in the desert in the Gospel of Matthew prefigures the defeat of sin and death by Jesus at the crucifixion. Instead of falling down to worship satan in the desert, instead of testing God and throwing himself off a cliff, Jesus is seen, towards the end of the Gospel to be lifted, raised, elevated under the veil of the crucifixion.
And yet that crucifixion, that suffering, that death was very real. We have ideas and images of Jesus, of God and of ourselves. Most of the time, none of them are accurate. Jesus had no illusions. He didn't try to be someone, he tried not to be someone, he tried not to be that expected Messiah.
The desert experience is about deprivation. This deprivation is remembered at Lent and symbolised through the different sacrifices we make. God promises no trial beyond our ability to endure. But we are a mortal, flawed and sinful people who make misery and suffering for ourselves. But beyond all that we live in the hope of immortality because we have been baptised into Christ and because in every desert experience we have, where there are demons and isolation, there is always the hope of God's angels.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Ash Wednesday
Back in the day, public sinners or people who were guilty of serious sin under the rubric of serious immoral misdemeanours were invited to come back into the fold of the Church on Ash Wednesday. The sinners were marked with the sign of the cross on the forehead. They were also given a shirt made of animal hair to wear for the duration of Lent and were forbidden to enter the Church (the building) until Holy Tuesday, i.e., the Tuesday of Holy Week, immediately preceding Easter Sunday.
From Ash Wednesday to Holy Tuesday, the sinners were given a penance to do, which may have taken the form of living apart from their families, often in a monastery, where they would do difficult manual labour and pray consistently, while also doing acts of charity. When this observance was complete they would then be considered worthy enough to participate in the events of Holy Week, culminating in the great feast of Easter. The idea behind the removal of the sinner from their families may be based on the Old Testament notion of ritual cleanliness, where sinners or those who had broken the Mosaic Law were explicated from their communities so that other people in the community would not be ritually defiled by the presence of the sinner among them. If one were ritually unclean in the Old Testament era, they would not have been allowed to take part in rituals of worship because they were not considered worthy enough.
Ashes, of course, has long been associated with sorrow and repentance because of its strong link with the Jewish tradition of sackcloth and ashes. The early Church attempted to remain faithful to this tradition and to preserve its orignal symbolism. Until the Reformation, many Protestant churches also employed the practice which ultimately ceased with the definitive split between the denominations.
Today, the priest, as he blesses the candidate who approaches for ashes says, "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel", a modern version of what used to be said, "Thou art dust and into dust thou shalt return".
So, enjoy your blessings with ashes and be mindful of the rich history and symbolism behind it all. You need not wear the hairy shirt though!!!!!!!
From Ash Wednesday to Holy Tuesday, the sinners were given a penance to do, which may have taken the form of living apart from their families, often in a monastery, where they would do difficult manual labour and pray consistently, while also doing acts of charity. When this observance was complete they would then be considered worthy enough to participate in the events of Holy Week, culminating in the great feast of Easter. The idea behind the removal of the sinner from their families may be based on the Old Testament notion of ritual cleanliness, where sinners or those who had broken the Mosaic Law were explicated from their communities so that other people in the community would not be ritually defiled by the presence of the sinner among them. If one were ritually unclean in the Old Testament era, they would not have been allowed to take part in rituals of worship because they were not considered worthy enough.
Ashes, of course, has long been associated with sorrow and repentance because of its strong link with the Jewish tradition of sackcloth and ashes. The early Church attempted to remain faithful to this tradition and to preserve its orignal symbolism. Until the Reformation, many Protestant churches also employed the practice which ultimately ceased with the definitive split between the denominations.
Today, the priest, as he blesses the candidate who approaches for ashes says, "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel", a modern version of what used to be said, "Thou art dust and into dust thou shalt return".
So, enjoy your blessings with ashes and be mindful of the rich history and symbolism behind it all. You need not wear the hairy shirt though!!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Shrove Tuesday
Although Lent officially begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, today is a day also strongly linked with the onset of Lent. The word 'Shrove' comes from an old English verb 'to shrive' which was associated with the repentance of sins and absolution, which when undertaken, sins were then said to be 'shriven'. Traditionally and symbolically, this was done by taking the palms used in the previous Sunday's service for Palm Sunday and burning them in a receptacle called a 'shrovarim'. The ashes from this ritual will then be used for blesing the congregation on Ash Wednesday. Therefore, today is about undertaking an examination of conscience, identifying the weaknesses in our lives and considering ways in which we can make amendments.
Today, Shrove Tuesday, has also been known as 'Fat Tuesday' or the French, Mardi Gras The reason for this is linked to the fast that takes place during the 40 days of Lent. Traditionally, again, people tended to fill up on fatty foods and rich foods as a treat before the long fast of Lent.
This day (or some traditions may include more days directly preceding Ash Wednesday) can be referred to as carnival (from carni, meaning 'meat'). As meat was sacrificed during the entire Lenten season, and not just on Fridays, people literally had a 'carnival' of meat before the great sacrifice of Lent!
Finally, as you probably know, today is also popularly known as pancake Tuesday. This tradition is most closely aligned to the English-Speaking world. The idea of the consumption of pancakes on this day is linked to the idea, not unlike that of Fat Tuesday, that the pancake mixture is made from rich ingredients such as flour, milk, eggs, sugar and fats, which would have been traditionally sacrificed during Lent.
Happy 'shriving' and enjoy the pancakes!!
Today, Shrove Tuesday, has also been known as 'Fat Tuesday' or the French, Mardi Gras The reason for this is linked to the fast that takes place during the 40 days of Lent. Traditionally, again, people tended to fill up on fatty foods and rich foods as a treat before the long fast of Lent.
This day (or some traditions may include more days directly preceding Ash Wednesday) can be referred to as carnival (from carni, meaning 'meat'). As meat was sacrificed during the entire Lenten season, and not just on Fridays, people literally had a 'carnival' of meat before the great sacrifice of Lent!
Finally, as you probably know, today is also popularly known as pancake Tuesday. This tradition is most closely aligned to the English-Speaking world. The idea of the consumption of pancakes on this day is linked to the idea, not unlike that of Fat Tuesday, that the pancake mixture is made from rich ingredients such as flour, milk, eggs, sugar and fats, which would have been traditionally sacrificed during Lent.
Happy 'shriving' and enjoy the pancakes!!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Lenten Preparation
SIX LENTEN TALKS IN AVILA
FRIDAYS: MARCH 11TH – APRIL 15th
March 11th
Friday 7.30 –9.00pm
‘The Paschal Mystery’
with Ray Moloney S.J.
March 18th
Friday 7.30 – 9.00 p.m.
‘CONVERSION’
with Máirtin O’Conaire ocd
March 25th
Friday 7.30 – 9.00 p.m.
‘GOD SENT HIS SON, BORN OF A WOMAN’
with Thomas Stone ocd.
April 1st
Friday 7.30 – 9.00 p.m.
‘BASIC CHRISTIANITY’
with Nicholas Madden ocd.
April 8th
Friday 7.30 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.
‘THE CROSS AND CHRISTIAN LIVING’
with J. Birmingham ocd.
April 15th
Friday 7.30 – 9.00 p.m.
PRAYER
with Micheál Mac Laifeartaigh ocd.
For all bookings & enquiries: Tel: 01 643 0200
E-mail: avila@ocd.ie Web: www.ocd.ie
Avila
Bloomfield Avenue ,
Morehampton Road
Donnybrook,
Dublin
Avila
Bloomfield Avenue ,
Morehampton Road
Donnybrook,
Dublin
Tel: 01 643 0200
E-mail: avila@ocd.ie
Web: http://www.ocd.ie/
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