by Trish Coupe-Schuele
Special to The Leaven
PRAIRIE VILLAGE — “Do this in remembrance of me” are very familiar words from the Mass. They are, perhaps, the reason why 60-plus members of St. Ann Church here gathered in the parish hall to celebrate a Christian Passover Remembrance Meal.
At the declaration of the three-year Eucharistic Revival, many Catholics began a quest to deepen their understanding and reverence for the Eucharist. A group of about 20 women from St. Ann’s, who made the Journey Retreat weekend together there, began a study of the subject, including the Jewish roots of the Eucharist.
On Palm Sunday of both 2023 and 2024, they gathered to celebrate the Jewish Seder (with the additional messianic message) in one of the group members’ homes. Out of respect for that most solemn of Jewish feast days, they called their ceremony “A Christian Passover Remembrance Meal” and shared it with the parish this year on April 5.
Gathering the day before the meal, the women prepared the traditional Seder foods and decorated the parish hall in the colors of spring, the season of this feast.
The Christian Passover Remembrance Meal is modeled after the Jewish Seder and uses the Seder’s different foods and the biblical history and ritual associated with each. Throughout the meal, with each Old Testament historic reference and Jewish traditional ritual, there is also a focus on New Testament references and the messianic fulfillment.
Keeping with the Jewish Seder tradition, the Remembrance Meal also features a washing ceremony. As one of the organizers explained, “In Jesus’s time, most of the common people walked everywhere. Traveling on dirt and rocky roads, their feet bore the stress of their day. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.
“In today’s world, it is our minds which carry so much of the strain and stress of our day. So, we wash the face, forehead and/or back of the neck of each other to follow Jesus’ example of bringing comfort and being of service to others.”
Printed on the front cover of the service booklet is a quote from St. Augustine of Hippo that eloquently captures the meaning of “Do this in memory of me.”
He wrote: “You are the body of Christ. In you and through you, the work of the incarnation must go forward. You are meant to incarnate in your lives the theme of your adoration — you are to be taken, blessed, broken and distributed, that you may be the means of grace and vehicles of eternal charity.”
For more on this Seder meal, email: christianpassoverpv3@gmail.com.
