The Jewish Pasch (Passover) is celebrated this year from April 22-30. You may wish to share this information on the Passover as it compares with the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. The material is taken from The Old Testament: Our Call to Faith and Justice (Ave Maria Press, 2013).
At the center of the Gospel is Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The word paschal is taken from the Jewish word for Passover, pasch. The Exodus, the occasion in which God spared the firstborn children of Israel and allowed Moses to lead his people from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, is remembered at Passover. Jesus in the New Testament redefined this experience.
The Gospels suggest that Jesus was celebrating a Passover meal in the upper room with his disciples at the Last Supper (Mt 26:18, Mk 14:22–23, Lk 22:7–13, 1 Cor 11:24–25). At the time that Jesus celebrated this feast, the Passover meal probably included unleavened bread, wine, some herbs, and an unblemished lamb. Their ceremony would have consisted of a blessing (berakah) of both the cup and the bread. These elements are described in the New Testament. Yet, there is no sign of the lamb. In its place, Jesus is the Lamb of God, the unblemished paschal lamb (Ex 12:4–5) who is led to slaughter (Is 53:7). Jesus gave the Passover a new meaning. The Eucharist “fulfills the Jewish Passover” through the Paschal Mystery (CCC, 1340). Christ’s Suffering, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension are a passing over from slavery to sin to ultimate freedom in the Resurrection of humanity.
Passover Meal
Eucharist
Bread and wine (Ex 12:15, Nm 9:11–12)
Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples (Mt Lk 22:19–20)
Unblemished Lamb (Ex 12:4–5)
Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God (Jn 19:36, 1 Cor 5:7, 1 Pt 1:19)
None of the lamb’s bones should be broken (Nm 9:12)
The soldiers did not break Jesus’ bones on the Cross (Jn 19:33, 36)
Berekah (“blessing”)
Jesus took the bread and said a blessing (Mt 26:26, Mk 14:22, Lk 22:19–20)
Celebrates the Hebrews passing from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land (Ex 12)
Celebrates the passing from slavery to sin to freedom in the Resurrection, from death to new life (1 Cor 5:7–8)
Moses poured blood on the people at the establishment of the Covenant (Ex 24:8, Zec 9:11)
Jesus poured out his blood at the establishment of the New Covenant (Jer 31:31, Lk 22:20)
Guest Speaker
If possible, arrange for a Jewish person in your neighboring community to speak with the students about the traditions, practice, and meanings of Passover.
Resources
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 608, 1334, 1340, 1362–1367, 1382
Christians in the Middle East and North Africa are facing a crisis. Forced to leave their ancestral homes and abandon their churches or face death, the situation is truly harrowing. Pope Francis prayed for an end to Christian persecution in the Middle East after Christians were forced to flee the village of Mosul in Iraq following threats from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a jihadist militant group.
Mosul’s Christians (who had been in the Mosul for 1700 years) and had numbered over 30,000 dwindled to just a few thousands. Besides ISIS, other minority groups such as Yazidis, Shabaks, and Shiite Turkmen have killed a significant number of Christians in extrajudicial executions. They also destroyed churches and Christian symbols.
Christians have faced persecutions in the Middle East for centuries. After the seventh century Arab Muslim conquest of the Middle East and North Africa, the Christian population dwindled there until Christians comprised only ten percent of the Islamic Empire. Internally, the Great Schism of 1054 that caused a divide between the Eastern churches and the Western or Roman Church played a factor in limiting the number of Roman Catholics in the Middle East. However, many Roman Catholics did participate in the Crusades and some remained in the Middle East as a minority after the Crusades ended.
Then, in the thirteenth century, the Maronite Church (the largest Christian Church in Lebanon today) came back into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some members more Eastern Churches returned to communion with the Roman Church; for example, Greek Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Coptic Catholics, and the Chaldean Catholic Church. In modern times, Chaldean Catholics have made up the largest Christian community in Iraq.
The number of Christians in the Middle East began to decline in the twentieth century. Why? Obviously, there has been a rise of more aggressive forms of Islam rather than forms that coexisted peacefully with Christians. Also, in the Holy Land, ten percent of the population was Christian prior to the foundation of the State of Israel. As Jews immigrated to the area, Christians emigrated away. Emigration and a declining birth rate have caused the number of Christians to fall to two to three percent of the population in Israel.
Unfortunately, whatever freedom allowed Christian communities in the past has come back to haunt them. That Christians were allowed by previous regimes such as those of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and Mohamed Morsi and his predecessors in Egypt to coexist peacefully may have become justifications for Islamic groups to consider Christians their enemies. These regimes were associated with Western imperialism. Christians are also facing attacks from militant Islamic groups in other parts of the world, particularly South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria.
Sadly, if nothing is done soon, Christians may disappear from the very lands that Jesus walked, the birthplace of the faith. The United States and European governments have not yet done much to advocate on Christians’ behalf: Time Magazine correspondent Roland Flamini wrote: “Christians see themselves as between a rock and a hard place. Arab fundamentalists increasingly see them as pawns of the West, while the West actually ignores their plight.”
Pope Francis preached to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “Violence isn't overcome with violence. Violence is conquered with peace. Our brothers and sisters are persecuted, they are chased away."
Further Information
Daniel Estrin, “Christian Exodus from Middle East Shadows Papal Visit to the Holy Land,” Huffington Post.
Roland Flamini, “Forced Exodus: Christians in the Middle East,” World Affairs, November/December 2013.
Alissa J. Rubin, “ISIS Forces Last Iraqi Christians to Flee Mosul,” The New York Times, July 18,
2014.
The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project just released “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.” This information comes from a poll and then analysis of the data obtained through the poll. You may find that some of this material would relate to your curriculum.
Scripture
What are the major differences between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism? (This might lead to research.)
Which of these three groups is growing in size? (Orthodox, while the others are shrinking.)
Where do most Jews live today? (80 percent live in the U.S. or Israel.)
World Religions
Because a person can be Jewish because of their ancestry rather than their religious practice, what does being Jewish mean? (The report investigates this complex question.)
The number of people practicing Judaism has declined over the years. Does this decline resemble the change in practice for other religious groups in the U.S.? (The number of Jews, ages 18-29, who say they have no religion parallels the overall disaffiliation with religious groups in the US.)
When the Jewish people returned to rebuild Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon, the prophet Nehemiah discouraged the people from marrying non-Jews in order to preserve the faith. How does marrying outside of Judaism affect Jewish practice today? (Jews who marry other Jews are more likely to observe religious practices than those who marry a non-Jew. The former group are more likely to raise their children Jewish than the latter group.)
The Pew Forum recently released The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010, a country-by-country analysis of data from more than 2500 censuses, surveys, and population registers. You may want to explore some of this data with your students. While the content may fit perfectly into a World Religions course, the report really contains information that all of our students should know.
73 percent of the world’s people live in countries where the majority of the population are of the same faith. How do you think that a person’s experience of faith differs if one is in the majority group rather than the minority group?
The median age for Muslims is 23, 26 for Hindus, 30 for Christians, and 36 for Jews. (Can a religious group’s median age suggest anything significant about the people in each religious group?)
A further breakdown indicates that the median age for Christians in the United States is 39, Europe (42), sub-Saharan African (19) and in Latin America/Caribbean (27). (Do these ages suggest anything about Christianity in the past or future?)
Catholics make up about 50 percent of Christians. (Do you think that the Catholic Church has leadership responsibilities or other obligations to the larger Christian community because of its size?)
Currently only one percent of the global Christian community lives in the Middle East and North Africa where Christianity originated. (How and why do think that the Christian community spread so far from its location in the time of the early Church?)
The study finds that 16.3% of the people in the world are “unaffiliated” with a religious group. (Who are the “unaffiliated?” Why might the majority of the population in China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan, and North Korea be “unaffiliated”?)
Check this link for this data and more.
Pope Benedict XVI is currently on a pilgrimage? across the Holy Land in which he is meeting with several political and religious leaders who are Muslim, Jewish, and Christian. On Monday he pleaded for the creation of a Palestinian homeland alongside of the state of Israel. Besides making sure your students are following this historic visit through the news, take some time to share this information on "Islam through a Catholic Lens" as excerpted from Exploring the Religions of Our World.
The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator in the first place, amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day (CCC, 841).
While visiting Morocco in August 1985, Pope John Paul II met a group of Muslim youth. There he said, “Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is today more necessary than ever.” The truth of this statement has not dissipated. As two religious traditions with a common heritage, dialogue between the faiths with the two largest numbers of adherents in the world is late in coming. Yet, as children of Abraham, along with the Jews, Catholics have more in common with Muslims than we may think.
In 1965, the Second Vatican Council instructed Catholics on the similarities between Catholics and Muslims. It said:
The church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to people. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own. Although not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet, his virgin mother they also honor and even at times devoutly invoke. Further, they await the Day of Judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason, they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms, deeds, and fasting. (Nostra Aetate, 3)
There are also significant differences between Catholic and Muslim belief. One major difference is in the understanding of the nature of God. Though Muslims believe in one God, Catholics believe in one God who is in Three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the central mystery of Christian faith, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. This unity of persons within the One God is foreign to Muslim understanding, which cannot conceive of God manifesting self in any way.
Of course, Catholics and Muslims also have a basic and essential difference in their understanding of Jesus. Catholics believe in the divinity of Christ and that he was at once both divine and human. Through the Paschal Mystery of his suffering, death, and resurrection, he won for mankind its redemption and salvation. Muslims do believe that Jesus existed; however, they do not acknowledge his divinity. Rather, they hold that Jesus was a prophet second only to Muhammad. More particularly, Muslims believe Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary but did not suffer a human death by crucifixion. Muslims believe that what seemed to be a crucifixion was an illusion created for some of Jesus’ enemies and that God raised Jesus to heaven.
As Catholics engage in dialogue with Muslims, there are two things to remember from the point of view of Muslims. First, Muslims are acutely aware that most Catholics have an understanding of Muslims gleaned from the Western media. The negative images of Muslims connected with the events of September 11, 2001, and other terrorist attacks is a skewed view of the almost one billion Muslims in the world who subscribe to peaceful solutions and lifestyles. Second, Islam continues to react in many different ways in response to the Western colonialism of the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Many Muslims believe that the fall of the great Islamic empires was due to their own religious laxity. For this reason, Muslims have attempted to purify their religion at least somewhat by isolating themselves from dialogue with other religions.
Effective dialogue between Catholics and Muslims begins at the starting point of common beliefs. The nature of one God, the heritage of peoples formed from Abraham, and the sharing of positive and peaceful human values is the best place to start. Another important area is the common struggle both religions have with some modern “isms” such as secularism, materialism, and racism. Family life is central to both Catholics and Muslims. Preserving religious values and practices while avoiding these creeping outside pressures and strategies to do so are worthy goals of discussion. Issues like systemic prejudice, poverty, and the care of the environment also form common concerns. As the Second Vatican Council asserted, “there must be a sincere effort on both sides to achieve mutual understanding” (Nostra Aetate, #3).
Review Questions
1. List some similarities between Catholics and Muslims.
2. Explain two major differences between Catholics and Muslims.
3. What are two areas of concern when Muslims engage in inter-religious dialogue with Catholics?
4. List some suggested areas of dialogue with Muslims
This is the time of year when Christians and Jews share two important holy days and seasons: Easter and Passover. This year, Easter Sunday is on April 12. Passover is celebrated from April 9 to 15. On Good Friday, Catholics pray especially for their Jewish brothers and sisters. Use the opportunity to explain some of the common and different beliefs between Catholics and Jews. The following material is reprinted from
Exploring the Religions of the World by Nancy Clemmons, SNJM.
Relationship Between Catholics and Jews
The relationship between Catholics and Jews is unique indeed. Catholicism is rooted in Judaism historically, scripturally, liturgically, and theologically. No two religious traditions have so much in common. We both believe in one God (CCC, 228). We share Abraham as our father in faith, the first to believe in the one God (CCC, 72). We believe God has made multiple covenants with the Jewish people—with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David—and that God has broken no covenant (CCC, 71). We know God has broken no promises. We affirm God’s revelation on Mount Sinai to Moses, then to the Jewish people, and then to all mankind (CCC, 72). We accept the Ten Commandments as a minimum guide for moral living (CCC, 1980). We pray the same psalms. We believe that God has spoken to us through the prophets. We accept the Hebrew Bible as the Word of God, and it is contained in the Old Testament. We know that at the end of time we will see that history has meaning, that there will be a final judgment, and that the world will be redeemed (CCC, 1060). Yet, those things that are common to both religious traditions are also the sources of our differences in the following areas.
Messiah
The most noted difference between Catholics and Jews is in the person of Jesus. Both agree Jesus was a historical figure. Jesus was born of a Jewish woman named Mary, raised in a traditional Jewish home in the Jewish homeland, was a charismatic itinerant preacher and wonder-worker, and died a criminal, crucified by Romans around 30 CE (AD). Here the commonalities end and the differences begin.
Jews still expect a Messiah or messianic age to come. Jews believe that the Messiah (“the anointed one”) will be a wise person who will reestablish the House of David and that he will bring about the messianic era when the “lion shall lie down with the lamb and swords shall be turned into plowshares.” Catholics believe the Messiah has already come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. While Jews at the time of Jesus were looking for a Messiah who would be a warrior-king, a political figure, from the House of David, Jesus of Nazareth was a spiritual rather than a political figure. The coming of the Messiah is the inauguration of God’s reign on earth. It is a spiritual, moral reign rather than an earthly reign, for Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. The Gospel of Luke cites Jesus reading in the synagogue from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk 4: 18–21)
At the end of time, it will be revealed that Jesus was indeed the long-awaited Jewish Messiah and Redeemer for the entire world. For Christians, the end of time will be the Second Coming of the Messiah, while for Jews it will be the first coming.
Incarnation
Jesus is something else besides the Messiah, the Anointed One of God (CCC, 453). Jesus is God. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). God became one of us in Jesus. At Jesus’ conception, the human nature of Jesus was perfectly united with the divine nature of the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity (CCC, 479). Jesus is not part human and part divine. Rather, Jesus is truly God and truly human (CCC, 480). God became one of us in Jesus to bring about our salvation, to reconcile us to God. This is the doctrine of the Incarnation.
Jews expect the coming Messiah to be a human being, anointed by God, but not divine. Jews see no reason for a mediator between them and God. Each person has the power within to reconcile, to make right, with God.
However, the doctrine of the Incarnation is not totally foreign to Jews. Both Jews and Christians believe the Word of God was present at creation, for God spoke, and it came to be. While for Christians the Word became Incarnate in the Person of Jesus, for Jews, the Word became Incarnate in a book. These are not the same or even similar doctrines. Rather, they both say that God is present to us through something concrete. For Christians, the tangible is Jesus, who is truly God and truly human. For Jews, the tangible is the Torah. It, too, has a divine and a human nature. The words of Torah make God present in the midst of the human reader.
Scripture
To Catholics, God’s inspired word in Scripture is contained in more than the Hebrew Bible. All Christians accept also the New Testament as revealed scripture. While Jews accept the New Testament as documents written, for the most part, by first-century Jews, they do not accept the New Testament as revealed by God. Christians commonly believe that the Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew Bible, though that is not exactly true. The Church included seven books (1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom), which were mostly written in Greek after 300 CE, not included in the Hebrew Bible B.C. (CE). These seven books are referred to as deuterocanonical—“second canon”—to show that they are not accepted in the Jewish canon.
The word “testament” means “covenant.” So, while Christians could say that their scriptures are made up of the Old Covenant and New Covenant, as noted above, God made multiple covenants with the Jewish people, the most important of which is the covenant on Mount Sinai. God does not break covenants. God’s covenants are eternal. Jesus did not enter human history to render the Old Covenant void.
Liturgy
There are striking similarities between the annual Passover meal of the Jews and the daily Eucharistic celebration of Catholics, also known as the Mass or the Lord’s Supper. In each there are readings from scripture, the offering, blessing, and fracturing of unleavened bread, as well as the offering, blessing, and consuming of wine. Even the beginning of the blessings can be similar. Jews pray, “Blessed are you, King of the universe,” and Catholics pray, “Blessed are you, God of all creation.”
Holy Thursday and Passover
There is a connection also between Easter and Passover. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke report that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. The Passover is in commemoration of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. In this historical event, Jewish slaves in Egypt were brought to freedom through the leadership of Moses. After many attempts to get the pharaoh to release the slaves through the use of plagues, it was the last plague that caused the release. In the last plague, the first-born son would be slain. To avoid the killing of the first-born son, the Jews were to slaughter an unblemished lamb and mark the post and lintel of their dwelling with the blood of the lamb. The angel of death would “pass over” any dwelling that was marked with blood. The death of first-born sons was too much for the pharaoh, and he let the Jews go free. Christians see Jesus as the Lamb of God who was slain and whose blood released believers from the slavery of sin to freedom in Christ Jesus.
Pentecost and Shavuot
The Christian feast of Pentecost and the Jewish fest of Shavuot are related. In fact, Shavuot is known also as Pentecost. While Shavuot means “weeks,” referring to seven weeks after Passover, the name Pentecost refers to fifty days after Passover. Shavuot began as a spring harvest feast, but it is better known as a celebration of when God gave the Torah and the Mosaic Law to the Jews through Moses. This momentous occasion on Mount Sinai is when the Jews became a covenantal people. When the first followers of Jesus were celebrating Shavuot/Pentecost in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit came upon them. They, too, became a people. Pentecost is sometimes known as the “birthday of the Church.” In accepting Jesus, the Mosaic Law was not nullified, but fulfilled.
Assignment
Research four areas in which Jews and Catholics are in agreement.
What are some other topics that can further Jewish-Catholic dialogue in a positive way.
In his address Ut Unum Sint (That They May be One) Pope John Paul II continued the Church's promotion of ecumenism. The encyclical explains how individual and communal reformation, love, prayer, and dialogue should undergrid ecumenical efforts. It also reviews ecumenical efforts after the Decree on Ecumenism from the Second Vatican Council. Review the importance of ecumenical efforts with your students. You may wish to use this brief activity (taken from This Is Our Church):
Ecumenism
Ecumenism is the spirit of love and understanding that seeks to achieve unity among Christians and the unity of all people everywhere. Each of us has our own part to play. Here are some actions that you can do to help foster Christian unity. Evaluate how well you are doing them:
1 — Very Good 2 — Okay 3 — Needs Improvement
_ I study my faith so I can explain it to others.
_ I pray for people of other denominations and other faiths.
_ I don’t negatively judge or look down on people of other faiths.
_ I get involved in service projects with people of other religions.
_ I share my beliefs with others when the opportunity presents itself.
_ I live my faith as a true witness to what I believe.
_ I study the Bible with people of other faiths.
_ I share prayer with people of other religions or faiths.
_ I refuse to make or listen to derogatory jokes about other religions or people of other faiths.
_ I welcome the opportunity to dialog with people of different faiths.
List some other ways you can work toward Christian unity.
Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic church has promoted dialogue with Muslims as logical and desirable. Catholicism and Islam are both monotheistic religions. Catholics and Muslims also each see the Old Testament as sacred texts. Clearly, however, there is an essential difference in the way Catholicism and Islam view Jesus. Muslims see Jesus as a prophet, second only to Muhammad. They do not acknowledge the divinity of Jesus, and therefore, do not see the New Testament as a sacred text. In today's world there are many ways that Muslims and Catholics can fruitfully dialogue and collaborate to address mutual concerns about the world. Topics such as global poverty, systemetic prejudice, materialism, and care of the envioornment are topics that these two world religious should address in the light of faith.
As a point of interest, share the following story with your students about a football player who attended both a Catholic high school and Catholic university while practicing Islam:
Faith and Football at Notre Dame
Certainly the heading of this feature has been dissected before. Faith and football at Notre Dame have gone hand in hand since the famous Fighting Irish started playing college football in 1887.
As part of its Catholic tradition, Notre Dame players go to Mass before games. Just prior to processing from the chapel to the stadium, the players are given a religious medal, usually of a saint. Theology courses are also part of any student’s curriculum, including the curriculum of football players.
But during the 2002–2006 seasons, the faith and football connection took a new text. Ryan Harris, a 6’ 3pound offensive tackle from St. Paul, Minnesota, was not only an All-American player, but he was also a practicing Muslim. His parents, who had explored a few different religions themselves, allowed Ryan to make his own decision about which religion he would practice.
It was in an eighth grade social science course that Ryan’s interest in exploring Islam more closely was sparked. “At the time, I was searching for my beliefs and what I believe about God. I looked into it and decided that I believe in God, Jesus, Moses, and Abraham. And I believe that Muhammad brought the last message,” Harris said.
While at Notre Dame, Ryan took several classes in Arabic. “I speak Arabic just a little bit. I know the alphabet and I can give you some words I know from the mosque, but I could not carry on a conversation.”
Ryan was also very involved with his teammates in the local community, including volunteering to teach and coach football at a local Catholic parish and at the Boys and Girls club. Along with his teammates, he kept the Notre Dame tradition of attending Mass before games and receiving a religious medal.
“I go to Mass with the team. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend time with my teammates, especially time to relax and place God in my thoughts before a game. It makes me feel thankful for all the blessings I have received,” he says.
Ryan said that later in his life, he would like to make a hajj to the holy sites of Islam.
Extending the Lesson
Query the students about their friendships with those of other faiths. Is it indimidating or uncomfortable to be involved with people who think and pray differently? How so?
Read statements made by Pope John Paul II about Muslims and Catholicism.
The preceding material is taken from the high school textbook Exploring the Religions of Our World by Nancy Clemmons, SNJM.
