On Wednesday, March 2nd, we will begin the beautiful season of Lent. These forty days are given to us not only to prepare for Easter, but also to remember what God has done for us in Jesus – His passion, death, and resurrection. For us Christians, we call this the new Passover – the Lord’s passing over from death to life. By dying Jesus destroyed death forever, and by rising restored us to everlasting life.

The celebration of Passover is at the heart of the Jewish understanding of The observance of the Sabbath. The night before the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, God told Moses to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, for THAT night the Lord will free them from the hands of the Egyptians. And they are to remember that holy night. God said, “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.” Thus, from then on, they gathered on the day of the Sabbath to remember God’s rest after creation and to celebrate the Passover- their freedom.

Jesus, as a pious Jew, observed the Sabbath with his fellow Jews to remember and give thanks for God’s graciousness to His people. In fact, Jesus gathered with His disciples on the feast of Passover the night before He died for us. Biblical scholars believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection took place on the celebration of Passover, thus making His paschal mystery the new Passover. Sabbath, from the beginning, has always been a celebration of remembrance and thanksgiving.

For us Christians, Jesus is the new Passover, the new Sabbath. Therefore, each time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we remember, celebrate and give thanks for what God has done for us in Jesus. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul says:

“I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

Our celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is deeper than obligation. It is the community’s celebration of thanksgiving and a perpetual remembrance of God’s love. This event makes the sacrifice of the cross present in our midst – this cross that restores us to everlasting life. This makes Sunday holy, a day special for us and for the Lord. A day to celebrate with our God.

When the pandemic started, our Sunday celebration was altered. Our in-person worship changed to a virtual gathering to ensure the safety of all. We thought it would only take two weeks, but that turned into months and then years of yearning and thirsting for the Eucharist. But we all know that God’s love is stronger than the pandemic. God invites us to come back to a full, conscious, and active participation in the Sunday Eucharist.

Last week, Bishop Oscar Cantú sent a pastoral letter inviting us to renew our commitment to the celebration of the Eucharist. The bishop said: “I invite those of us who are able to return safely to participate in the Sunday Eucharist in their parish. Let us continue to make the Lord’s Day a true celebration of thanksgiving for God’s love, mercy, and redemption. “

Let us heed the bishop’s call to return safely to our Sunday worship. I assure you that our parish continues to ensure that all the health directives are followed.

I believe it is providential that this renewal, this invitation comes to us at the beginning of the holy season of Lent – a time to remember and celebrate the Passover of the Lord; a time of grace and a time to celebrate the cross and the empty tomb – the greatest expression of God’s unconditional love for all of us.

Read Bishop Cantú’s letter here.