The document provides an outline for a presentation on Easter that includes: the Christian origins of Easter; a description of Easter Sunday and its readings; and a concluding summary. It explores the origins of the name "Easter" and how the date is determined in relation to Passover. The key aspects of Easter Sunday are described as celebrating Christ's resurrection through traditions like renewal of baptismal vows. The readings highlight witnesses to the resurrection and the empty tomb. The summary emphasizes that Easter challenges believers to live Christ's resurrection daily through dying to the world and living resurrected lives focused on eternal things.

1. PRESENTATION OF EASTER !

2. ARISE, MY LOVE Not a word was heard At the tomb that day, Just shuffling soldiers’ feet As they guarded the grave. One day, two days, three days had passed. Could it be that Jesus Breathed His Last? Could it be that His Father Had forsaken Him?

3. Turned His back on His Son Despising our sin? All hell seemed to whisper Just forget Him, He’s dead. Then the Father looked down To His Son and said:

4. CHORUS Arise, My Love, arise, My Love! The grave no longer Has a hold on You. No more death’s sting, No more suffering. Arise, arise, My Love!

5. The earth trembled And the tomb began to shake, And like lightning from heaven The stone was rolled away. And as dead men, the guards, They all stood there in fright, As the power of love Displayed its might.

6. Then suddenly a melody Filled the air, Riding wings of wind It was everywhere. The words all creation Had been longing to hear, The sweet sound of victory So loud and clear:

7. CHORUS Arise, My Love, arise, My Love! The grave no longer Has a hold on You. No more death’s sting, No more suffering. Arise, arise, My Love!

8. Sin where are your shackles? Death, where is your sting? Hell has been defeated. The grave could not hold the King.

9. CHORUS Arise, My Love, arise, My Love! The grave no longer Has a hold on You. No more death’s sting, No more suffering. Arise, arise, My Love!

10. SO, THIS IS EASTER! ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN, ALLELUIA!

11. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION 1. CHRISTIAN ORIGINS of EASTER 2. EASTER SUNDAY 3. READINGS 4. SUMMARY

12. 1. THE CHRISTIAN ORIGINS OF EASTER Overview Origins of the name ‘Easter’ Judeo-Christian origins of Easter How the date of Easter is determined When was the date of the first Easter? The Christian Liturgical Calendar Easter Traditions

13. Overview Forty-day penitential season of Lent Holy Week Octave of Easter Modern-day Easter is derived from two ancient traditions: one Judeo-Christian and the other pagan. Most religious historians believe that many elements of the Christian observance of Easter were derived from earlier pagan celebrations.

14. Origins of the name "Easter" Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. The name given by the Frankish Church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When translated to German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter".

15. Judeo-Christian origins of Easter The Christian celebration of Easter is linked to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were observed by the ancient Israelites early in each new year. (The Jewish people followed the Persian/Babylonian calendar and started each year with the Spring Equinox circa March 21) "Equinox" means "equal night." On that date of the year, the night and day are approximately equal.

16. How the date of Easter is determined Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20, the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. Many sources incorrectly state that the starting date of the calculation is the actual day of the Equinox rather than the nominal date of March 20. Other sources use an incorrect reference date of March 21.

17. How the date of Easter is determined(con’t) Some dates related to Easter are celebrated on the following dates by the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. Year Ash Wednesday Easter Sunday Ascension Pentecost 2002 Feb-13 Mar-31 May-9 May-19 2003 Mar-5 Apr-20 May-29 Jun-8 2004 Feb-25 Apr-11 May-20 May-30 2005 Feb- 9 Mar-27 May-5 May-15 2006 Mar-1 Apr-16 May-25 Jun-4

18. When was the date of the first Easter? Passover was the most important feast of the Jewish calendar, celebrated at the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. (The Equinox typically occurs on March 20, 21 or 22 according to our present calendar) The Gospels differ on the date of Jesus' execution.

19. The Christian Liturgical Calendar Lent Ash Wednesday Holy Week Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday Ascension Pentecost

20. Easter Traditions The Date of Easter The Cross The Easter Bunny The Easter Egg

21. 2. EASTER SUNDAY Perspective Our Faith Theme and Characteristics Paschal Celebration The Mass Baptism and Renewal of Baptismal Promises Living the Paschal Mystery Others

22. Perspective Easter put everything about Jesus into perspective. Tells us what Good Friday was all about. What really happened on Good Friday was not an execution but a sacrifice, not a defeat but a triumph, not an end but a beginning. It was a beginning of a fuller life. Jesus rose to a glorified life of perfect happiness.

23. Our Faith “ They saw and believed” : This is the testimony of the first witnesses, John and Peter and others who saw Jesus risen from the dead, and this is our Easter faith. Joy in the risen Christ should pervade the celebration. Do we feel the joy the disciples felt in the presence of their risen Master?

24. Theme and Characteristics The paschal mystery, the date and the resurrection of Christ is the central theme of the Easter cycle. Easter celebrated deliverance from the slavery of time, sin and death. It celebrated the deliverance as already having been achieved in Christ and as shared by the Church, the Body of Christ.

25. Paschal Celebration Paschal celebration begins at the Grand Vigil, but it continues for fifty days, of which Easter Sunday is the first. The day stresses the presence of the risen Jesus among his own, leading us to the fullness of faith. Renewal of baptismal promise. It also brings the Holy Triduum to a close.

26. The Mass Easter Sunday is really the continuation of the season inaugurated at the Easter Vigil and flows from it. If the Easter Vigil Mass was like an earthquake that sends out shock waves, then the resurrection event reverberates most strongly on Easter Sunday, then throughout the fifty days of the Easter seasons (Paschal Time). The shock waves reach every Sunday of the year and every Mass on weekdays.

27. Baptism and Renewal of Baptismal Promises Easter Sunday is an ideal time to celebrate baptism. Renewal of baptismal promises gives us the opportunity for welcoming God who wants to live in us through our full and free commitment.

28. Living the paschal mystery The Church does not limit her celebration of her Lord’s resurrection to Easter Sunday but continues it until the day when the Lord sends his Spirit. The reason for this unbroken celebration is that Pentecost marks the full impact of salvation on the world, and the outpouring of God’s life upon us.

29. Others Adult neophytes will return on Sunday morning to share the Eucharist with the wider parish community. For some people, Easter morning is the occasion of an infrequent visit to the church, and the Eucharist of Easter day is an opportunity to hear the gospel anew. Others will return after the Vigil for another, and in their mind a more traditional, Easter celebration.

30. Others (Con’t) For regular churchgoers, the great vigil had no place in their devotional background. The Eucharist on Easter morning is for them the primary celebration of the major Christian festival. Some will simply be unable to attend the Vigil and wish to worship on Easter morning. All need to feel that something important is happening, that the Church is celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

31. 3. READINGS 1st Reading : Acts 10:34; 37-43 2nd Reading : Colossians 3:1-4 Gospel : John 20: 1-9

32. 1st Reading: Acts 10:34; 37-43 You know…which was proclaimed anointed… with the Holy Spirit and…power God was with him “ hanging him on a tree” God raise him…third day

33. 1st Reading: Acts 10:34; 37-43 (Con’t) not to all…witnesses and drank with him to preach to the people judge of the living and the dead prophets…witness through his name

34. 2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 If you have been raised….Christ Set your mind…things above where Christ is seated not on things that are on earth you have died…your life…Christ When Christ…appears you also be appear….glory

35. GOSPEL : John 20:1-9 first day of the week Mary Magdalene stone had been moved away They have taken the Lord… Peter and the other disciple He saw and believed as yet they did not understand

36. 4. SUMMARY Easter requires more of us than the repetition of the paschal mystery. We are being challenged to move beyond an intellectual witnessing and to live the resurrection in our daily life. It is a slow maturing process of dying and rising with Jesus Christ. We must encounter him in our own lives. How would we describe our daily lives?

37. 4. SUMMARY (Con’t) Do we grasp the trophies and ideologies of this world that promise security and peace? Do we place our ultimate concern only in the rewards of the world? Do we hold back and play safe when it comes to our relationship with the Father? As long as we continue to love with our heart set on the things above, we will be Christ’s witnesses in Spirit and Truth!

38. SOME QUOTES The secularized version negates the Gospel: The Resurrection should really be understood as a metaphor for renewal rather than a historical event. Resurrection as a metaphor, Easter as a time of renewal in the broadest sense, simply proposes that there are occasions, when people should together stop and think about where they and their communities are heading. “ Easter’s relevance”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, April 2, 1999

39. SOME QUOTES The Resurrection is interior to the Cross (St John of the Cross)…our rising takes place in the midst of our suffering. It is not that we go through suffering waiting for the resurrection to happen in our lives; rather we experience the Resurrection of Jesus right in the center of our pain and suffering. That is why the saints could rejoice in their suffering which unites them to Christ and thereby to his cross, which is always joined to his resurrection. Our suffering is redeemed by the Resurrection of Jesus, whose own suffering and death carried the seeds of the Resurrection inside them. Murray Bodo, The Way of St Francis .

40. SOME QUOTES Resurrection can become for each of us a daily experience. Every slight pain, every small anxiety, misunderstandings, disappointments and life’s contradictions – all of these are experiences of little deaths. Our daily hurts and every one of them, have within them the joy of resurrection. Basil Hume , To be a Pilgrim, 97

41. HAPPY EASTER! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION!