Easter is a day when children hunt for Easter eggs, families get together and many Catholics attend Mass. According to a Knights of Columbus-Marist poll, nearly seven Catholics out of 10 attend mass on Easter Sunday. The word “Easter” comes from a pagan festival of spring celebrated by the Saxons, commemorating the goddess “Eastre” (sometimes spelled “Oestre”). Her symbol was the rabbit.
Also from early times, the egg was a symbol of re-birth. The exchange of eggs was a springtime custom in some cultures. Peasants would color eggs by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
This leads me to the legend of the Easter egg. The legend goes that early Easter morning, Mary Magdalen went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Because she expected it to be a long day, she brought with her a basket of eggs for her lunch. When she arrived at the tomb she discovered it was empty and the body of Jesus was gone! Shocked she sat the basket down to enter the tomb, but something caught her eye. Her white eggs had miraculously turned the colors of the rainbow.
A legend or fable is a story that doesn’t pretend to be historical but simply teaches a lesson. I would like you to consider that this lesson teaches us that with the risen Jesus we live in a De Colores world.
We have only 10 days until the next English Cursillo. Please pray that these candidates will experience the De Colores joy of the risen savior.
De Colores, Deacon Doug
Easter, 2015