By Corinne Winter
Holy Week seems the ideal time to recall that one of the key messages of the Second Vatican Council has to be the call to recognize the centrality of the Paschal Mystery in the prayer, the life and the faith of the Christian community. The term “paschal” links the self-gift of Christ with the Passover celebration of the Jewish tradition. During the Passover, Jews celebrate God’s setting them free from slavery that they might become a people united with one another and with God in a covenant relationship. St. Paul, writing to Christians at Corinth, referred to Christ as “our paschal lamb,” (I Cor. 5:7) comparing Jesus to the lambs that were sacrificed for the Passover feast.
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