*BEST OF DTB #80* Easter is still a uniquely Catholic holiday...and it it is getting more so.

Easter (which takes it's name from it's Eastern origin, not from some goddess as some claim) is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. it is a conspicuously Catholic holiday both in origin and celebration.

The whole of the Easter story begins with the Last supper and the institution of the Eucharist;

Luke 22

14 And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you I shall not eat it * until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20 And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

After this, we are drawn through the terrible passion of Our Lord, during which He issues His condemnation of Jerusalem, the harlot of babylon;

Luke 23

26* And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. p 28* But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem", do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!' 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

Revelation 6 15* Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us" and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?"

In the climax of the passion, Our Lord gives us His Mother as Our Mother. As it turns out, this is the defining sign of the true believers of Jesus Christ.

John 19 25* So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26* When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Revelation 12 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on * the sand of the sea.

Then comes the Resurrection. A real event that only the Catholic Church has proof of. Think about that. Outside of the Scriptures, a non-Catholic can provide no evidence of the Resurrection. The Shroud of Turin, on the other hand, provides the definitive proof that the Resurrection is a historical fact.

Finally, what points back to these miracles are the miracles that happen now, in the Catholic Church. Eucharistic miracles, public miracles....

However, at the end of the day, what verifies the Catholic Church most is that it celebrates and enjoins itself to the whole passion mystery.

Rather than dismissing it with a prayer.

More and more, other churches are denying the reality of the Resurrection or, at a minimum, downplaying it.

Growing in protestantism is a denial of Christ's fulfillment of the Sabbath and Sunday as the Lord's day.

Lost in so many of them is that the Cross is not sufficient until we join it with our own sufferings, through the ministry of the Church.

Colossians 1
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26* the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.

The Catholic seal is all over Easter.

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