Seder gives appreciation for the faith

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
MILFORD – Saturday’s Seder at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish gave participants a deeper appreciation of their faith – and a good time.
They used Passover prayers, songs and foods, as their pastor, Father Peter J. Joyce, made connections between this Jewish celebration and Christianity.
“Exodus 12:27 refers to the Hebrew homes protected by God who ‘passed over’ their houses at the moment of the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn,” when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, says the booklet St. Mary’s used, “The Passover Celebration: A Haggadah for the Seder,” from Liturgy Training Publications and Anti-Defamation League. “This salvation was later commemorated in the offering of the paschal lamb at the Temple. …The celebration at home is a reenactment of the exodus experience. … The word seder means ‘order,’ referring to the ritual followed during the celebration.”
“I thought it was amazing how it intertwined the Jewish faith and our faith,” said Mary Beth Knief, after participating in her first Seder.
She said she had been part of a Bible study about the Eucharist that Father Joyce started before the coronavirus pandemic and finished via Zoom and Facebook after the shutdown. The Seder they had planned to accompany the Bible study was cancelled last year, she said.  
“We were going to do total Zoom” for the Seder this year, because of restrictions on gatherings, Father Joyce said. When restrictions were relaxed, they decided on a hybrid Seder, which parishioners could attend in the church hall or watch remotely.
Five families participated via Zoom and there were 210 views on Facebook Live, said Jonathan Capece, St. Mary’s music director, who brought fellow musicians to help with the songs and coordinated the technology for home participation.
Yvonne Kozlowski, who attended in person, said it was a wonderful experience and helped her appreciate what Jesus went through in the Last Supper, “because our Lord was Jewish … he brought his Jewish roots into our Christianity. He gave us something very valuable when he gave his body and blood.”
Sandy Buckley said there are many connections between Judaism and Christianity. She said her Italian family discovered, via DNA, that they’re 6 percent Jewish, which excited her.
“I’m coming to this every year,” she said, adding that Father Joyce will continue holding Seders.
Father Joyce said that when he was pastor of St. Mary Parish in Southbridge, a parishioner invited a Jewish friend to their Seder. The friend invited the rabbi and people of the Messianic Jewish congregation, and an interfaith Seder was held at St. Mary’s, later St. John Paul II Parish, for many years. Now Father Joyce is sharing with Milford parishioners some of what he learned.
He made some connections between Jewish and Christian beliefs Saturday.
One was how the Seder includes the washing of hands; purifying the body is a sign of purifying the soul, he said. John the Baptist baptized people in water.
“We do it even at the Mass,” Father Joyce said, noting how the priest washes his hands. At the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, a sign of hospitality usually assigned to slaves or servants, so nasty was the task. So, Jesus performing it would have scandalized the disciples, he said.
The unleavened bread, called matzah, is pierced so water can be absorbed and evaporate, he said.
“It is an image, for us, of Christ, because his body was pierced,” Father Joyce said.
For the Israelites, this bread became an image of the manna God provided for them after they escaped from Egypt, he said.
“There was the expectation that the Messiah would bring them a new manna, which is why the multiplication of the loaves … resonated” with the Jews of Jesus’ day, he said.
Father Joyce said that the plagues God sent upon the Egyptians when they refused to let the Israelites go represented the Egyptians’ gods. The plagues showed that the God of Israel was more powerful.
When the Israelites marked their doors with the blood of the lamb so God would “pass over” them, not taking the lives of their firstborn when inflicting the tenth plague, they probably formed the first letter of the Hebrew word for “life,” Father Joyce said.
“We Christians – the doors of our houses, our lips” are marked by the blood of the Lamb in the Eucharist, he said.
After a full meal prepared by parishioner Judy Byron, Father Joyce had the adults hunt for a piece of matzah called the “afikoman,” a traditional activity for youngsters.

– The Seder can be viewed on the parish’s Facebook page, facebook.com/stmaryoftheassumption.

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