How do I respond to this?

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Catydidd

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A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
 
Give her a high five and proceed to eat a container of peeps. 🙂 They are ones missing out on the feast day.
 
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P39.HTM

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

1169 Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the “Feast of feasts,” the “Solemnity of solemnities,” just as the Eucharist is the “Sacrament of sacraments” (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter "the Great Sunday"43 and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week “the Great Week.” the mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him.

1170 At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox. the reform of the Western calendar, called “Gregorian” after Pope Gregory XIII (1582), caused a discrepancy of several days with the Eastern calendar. Today, the Western and Eastern Churches are seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord’s Resurrection on a common date.
 
Catydidd said:
A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
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We don’t follow Lent but celebrate Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday…
I always remember the verses from Romans 14 when it comes to celebrations relating to our Lord Jesus…

3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
 
Catydidd said:
A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
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Well - Other than for the “Pagan holiday” crack - I’d say let it go…
I think I would ask them for clarification on that though…

Peace
James
 
don’t you worry, we celebrate Christ’s sacrifice at every Mass 👍
 
I would continue to go to mass and receive our lord in the Holy Eucharist because you are the one who has right she is the one who hasnt quite gotten it yet
 
We DO celebrate Easter every week (indeed, every minute of every hour of every day, the Catholic Church is celebrating the Paschal mystery somewhere).

Just moreso on the actual anniversary.

Does this friend not celebrate birthdays or wedding anniversaries?
 
“Friends” don’t insult their friends beliefs with lies. Basically you are dealing with anti-Catholic indoctrination. I hope your friend is open to receiving information. The mark of a bigot is one who refuses to accept the facts. Here’s some one liners you can use:

Did your church have a Good Friday service? If yes, how was the date determined? If no, is their a resurrection without a crucifixion?
**
Is the Jewish Passover a pagan holiday? No? Then how do they determine the date?
We simply follow the same Jewish lunar calender for determining the date for Easter. There is nothing pagan about that. Are Jews pagan?
**
The word “Easter” is Christian in the right context, but we know the term has pagan origins, but that does not mean it is pagan. Wedding rings are not pagan in todays context , are not in the bible, and definately have pagan origins. Does your church ban wedding rings too?
**
Funny how the word “Easter” appears in the King James Bible but not in most Catholic bibles.

I hope that helps. Next time something like this happens, just say, “I don’t know, but I am happy to find the answer if you are willing to listen to it.”

Dave Armstrong, one of my favorite apologists, quit debating with anti-Catholics (many years of it) because he said it was a waste of time.
 
Catydidd said:
A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
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Catydidd, this article addresses your friend’s accusation:

catholic.com/thisrock/1999/9903chap.asp

Why exactly does she think Catholics go to church on Sunday? To play BINGO?
 
Catydidd, please share the following information with your friend:

In the Catholic Faith, every Sunday is considered a participation in Easter Sunday. For example, consider the fact that the Season of Lent is 40 days, but if you count all the days from Ash Wednesday until the evening of the Holy Triduum, there are 44 days. The reason is because the Sundays that happen during Lent are not supposed to be counted; they are considered part of Easter.

The timing of Lent is not in conjunction with a pagan holiday.
However, it is in conjunction with a Jewish holiday: Passover.
Moreover, the gospels say that Jesus rose from the dead on the day after the Jewish Sabbath, which is a Sunday.

It is a tradition among Christians to assign specific holy days to specially commemorate historical events that happened within our salvation history. With this in mind, it would be a rather curious thing not to have a specific day assigned for the commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ. After all, are we to have specific dates for Christmas and Pentecost, but not Easter? And even though every Sunday is considered a participation in Easter, what would happen if we decided to not give Easter a specific date each year and instead fully celebrate it each and every Sunday? Would that really “do the trick” in giving the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection the majesty and glory it deserves? Or, human nature being what it is, would “familiarity breed contempt”? I, for one, greatly look forward to the Easter Vigil each year, with the Easter fire, the candles, the singing of the Exultet, the incense, the Easter lilies, the baptisms and such, all building up to a glorious celebration of the Eucharist. If we did this every Saturday night I’m sure it would quickly lose its appeal for many people.
 
Catydidd said:
A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
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How does she celebrate the resurrection every Sunday?

(This may sound harsh and I could be very very wrong about my assesment of this friend of yours, but I think it’s certainly a reasonable perception of her motives)

If she thinks she is doing that by just going to church services every Sunday then, this means no special attention is given to it at all, and she is nicely trying to give a jab by implying that you are singling out only one time during the year to celebrate the resurrection.
She doesn’t understand Catholic theology, or the Mass and it doesn’t sound like she will anytime soon because she’s too special to do something that is so, Pagan like that.:rolleyes:

There are not enough peeps that will help soften that Easter chick up.
 
Catydidd said:
A Protestant friend said this today and I didn’t know how to respond:

“We don’t really celebrate Easter on Easter because we think you should celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday, not just on the Pagan holiday, so we didn’t do much.”

I know this is wrong. I know there are reasons to explain why we celebrate Easter when we do, and the meaning of the liturgical calendar, but I was lost. How can I explain to her and her husband why this is wrong? Easter is not a Pagan holiday.

My friend and her husband go to church, read the Bible, and really do believe in God. The divide between us seems really small sometimes, and really large others. 😦
Click to expand...
Not sure where they get that Easter was a pagan holiday. It might be from “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hissop. There’s some doubts on the scholarship behind that book. The name Easter also bears a coincidental resemblance to the name of Ishtar, a pagan idol.

Anyway, you should tell your friend that the Church DOES celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday. Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Easter is just an extra special celebration on the liturgical calendar. Good luck:)
 
I think you also need to explain to your friend that we have a liturgical calendar. Every day of the year, we celebrate something. It just so happens that we put Christmas on 12/25 and Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Equinox. So, for today by example, we would be celebrating “Easter Wednesday”–along with some Saints feast days, etc.

Easter isn’t just one day though. We also spend the six weeks before in preparation for Easter reflecting on God the Son’s death and then celebrate the fifty days after celebrating His Resurrection.

We have taken the entire 365 day calendar and used it to point us to Jesus Christ. We know that it’s not just His Resurrection but rather the entire Mystery of our Faith ("Christ has died…Christ is risen…Christ will come again!) that is important.
 
Thanks for your responses, everyone. There’s a lot of food for thought here. Now I just need to read even more about apologetics so that when she says things like this, I can respond at the time 🙂

We really do get along quite well, but I think some of you were right when you said that I was dealing with anti-Catholic indoctrination.
 
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