Happy Easter!

Hi Nela:  I hope you're doing well.Easter blessings to you and yours.  And everybody else too!

Well, today is Good Friday, and I just had a few thoughts about these high, holy days for Christians.  Today, of course, we commemorate the Passion of Jesus.  And I can't help but note that one of the things about Christianity that distinguishes it from all other religions is this passion and the message that suffering is a part of the human condition.  I believe the message of Jesus is that we're all dragging some kind of little cross around, and it's up to us to help one another bear the burden.  That's why believers are referred to as the Body of Christ, aka the church.  Great sorrow and great joy live in the same house, as many of us have experienced, and they meet at the juncture of the beams of the cross.

Many of you looking in here today, especially from Europe, might now be thinking, oh, boy, here we go again - another American religious fanatic.  But religion has absolutely nothing to do with this message.  For believers, the story doesn't end here, because of what we commemorate on Sunday.  But many people speak of how their cross has made them grow, reflect, repent, change, become a better person, become more compassionate, etc.  We look forward to Sunday -  but there is no resurrection, without first, the cross.

It's been nearly a year since I joined this most special community - POE.  I've seen a lot of us running up to one of our members in need to grab the bottom ot that cross they're carrying, to help ease the burden a little.  You are all very special and I wish you all a peaceful and joyous Easter.

When I was little, I couldn't understand why this was called GOOD Friday. It was the day that Christ was crucified, what could be good about it? But it's the outcome of that sacrifice that makes it good.

I don't go to church on this day, but the 'reason for the season' will be utmost in my mind.

"Alexander Hislop, in The Two Babylons, writes that Easter “is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing [more] than Astarte … the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country [England]. That name, as found … on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.” ⁵  In other words, the ancient Assyrians pronounced Ishtar the same way we pronounce Easter today!"

"Easter had a pre-Christian origin- the Teutonic dawn-goddess ~ Spring Goddess of Fertility~Eostre"

"The rabbit is a Pagan symbol and always been an emblem of fertility."

Celebrate the Goddess of Dawn~ light a candle! Eat chocolate!