FROM ASHES TO ALLELUIA: Roots and Connections of a Journey in two Traditions
We pause, at this moment, to remember Saint Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, the anniversary of whose assassination was on Tuesday this week.
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917 - 1980)
Oscar Romero was fatally shot n March 24, 1980 while celebrating Mass at the chapel of the Divine Providence Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador. His murder was an act of repression by the Salvadoran government, which had been involved in the mass murder of the Salvadoran people during the unrest of the Salvadoran Civil War in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
A “not-so-fun” related fact: The four American women martyrs, lay missionary Jean Donovan and Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, and Maura Clark, about whom I wrote a few posts back, were also murdered later on in the same year in a nearby area of El Salvador. The women were tortured, raped, and killed on December 3, 1980. The “crimes” of these American women were that they were teaching the Salvadoran children and medically caring for the people.
Romero, however, initially seen as a social conservative at the time of his appointment as Archbishop in 1977, was deeply affected by the murder of his friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande. Following Father Grande’s death, he did a full turnaround and thereafter became an outspoken critic of the military government of El Salvador.
All five of these martyrs were killed by the hands of the same Salvadoran military forces, which were, by the way, supported and assisted by the U.S. government at that time.
I thought it would be significant to review here, on the 46th anniversary of his death, the words of Romero that are believed to have been those that directly prompted his killing.
In a lament to the young men of El Salvador’s military, Romero stated over local radio, that God’s law must prevail: “You shall not kill!”
“No soldier, he said, “is obliged to obey an order against the law of God. No one has to observe an immoral law.
It is time now for you to reclaim your conscience and to obey your conscience rather than the command to sin….
In the name of God, then, and in the name of this suffering people, whose laments rise up each day more tumultuously toward heaven, I beg you, I beseech you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression.”
Oscar Romero was canonized as a martyr by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City on October 14, 2018— the conclusion of a long process that culminated in Pope Francis declaring him a saint. His feast day is March 24th.
Now on to our post:
Christians are now approaching their highest spiritual point—the celebration of Easter on April 5, 2026.
The Easter celebration occurs on the Sunday at the end of a special week. This week, called Holy Week, begins tomorrow, Palm Sunday, which is the day of remembrance of the moment when Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem was celebrated by the people.
During Holy Week, Christians celebrate and especially ritualize the last three days, to which they refer as “The Triduum,” the three days, which in 2026 are on Holy Thursday (April 2nd), Good Friday (April 3rd), and Holy Saturday, the Eve leading into Easter Sunday morning (April 4/5).
First Day:
Certain rituals, especially “the washing of the feet” on the first of the three days—Holy Thursday— depict the actions of Jesus that demonstrate exactly what he called for from his followers (including us): a servant ministry.
Washing the sandal-clad, dusty or muddy feet of a guest in the ancient days of Jesus’ time, was typically the job of the household servant.
Jesus did it to demonstrate the main point of following his way: servitude toward others.
And so during Catholic Masses around the globe on Holy Thursday, all ordinary liturgical rites pause for a moment as the priest takes on another ritual, the washing of the feet of 12 people in the church parish.
The people sit directly in front of the altar, while the priest takes a pan of water and a towel and ritually washes and dries the foot of each person.
On Holy Thursday, the Church remembers the Last Supper, the Seder meal Jesus shared with his friends just before his arrest.
It was during that meal, as the gospel writers report, when he said the words that today are carried into a significant moment of Consecration in the Catholic Mass: “This is my body. This is my blood.”
Second Day:
What follows on the second day of Holy Week is the somber remembrance of the crucifixion and death of Jesus on what some Catholics call “Good Friday.”
This day of the death of Jesus has different titles in some Christian traditions: my husband Bruno told me that when he was growing up in the Lutheran faith in Gothenburg Sweden, the day of the death of Jesus was called “Long Friday,” as it is today.
Other traditions refer to Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord.
This second day is a time of quiet reflection on the life and message of Jesus. It is a day of fast and of abstinence from meat.
And then there is always Easter Sunday—Resurrection Day
Rejoice, He is Risen!
When Two Traditions Coincide:
Every few years, however, two of the world’s most significant religious celebrations—Easter and Passover—occur at roughly the same time.
This is not a coincidence. It is the result of a focus on the Spring moon and of shared sacred stories that reach back thousands of years.
A Shared Historical Beginning
The connection between Easter and Passover begins in the story of Jesus.
The Gospels report that the “Last Supper” was a Passover seder meal, and the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection took place during the Jewish festival of Passover in Jerusalem
Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”
This means that from the very beginning, the Christian celebration of Easter was historically linked to the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, a story told in the Book of Exodus. of the Hebrew Testament of the Bible. It is a celebration of freedom, deliverance, and hope.
Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus, is also a story of liberation—from enslavement to sin and of freedom from death, with Christ’s showing that death is not the end, but an entry into Eternal Life.
Both holy days, in different ways, are about freedom, renewal, and new life.
Why the Dates Are Similar: The Full Moon and the Spring Equinox Connection*
Passover and Easter are both based on the Spring full moon, sometimes called the Paschal Moon (from Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover), and so they frequently fall within days or weeks of each other.
Passover begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which is determined by the lunar cycle.
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which this year, in 2026, occurred on March 20th, but often occurs on March 21st.
They are calculated differently, so they do not always overlap exactly, but their calendars remain connected through the rhythms of the moon and the arrival of Spring.
So when you see a bright full moon near Easter, you are looking at the Easter Moon, and you are also actually looking at the same moon that determines Passover.
Spring: The Season of Renewal
It is fitting that both the Jewish and Christian celebrations occur in Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
Spring is a time when the Earth itself tells us a story of resurrection and liberation—flowers push through the soil, trees bud, and the world seems to awaken from its seeming death in winter.
Passover celebrates a people set free and beginning a new journey. Easter celebrates new life emerging from the tomb.
In personal, human ways, both celebrations remind us that life can emerge from hardship, hope from despair, and that freedom can follow oppression.
A Shared Spiritual Message
Even though Passover and Easter belong to different religious traditions, their themes overlap in beautiful ways:
Remembering suffering and struggle
Celebrating liberation and new life
Gathering for sacred meals with family and community
Passing stories and faith from one generation to the next
Renewal of hope
Passover Seder
The Seder Plate
The Journey:
There is journey in both traditions: for Christians at this time it is from the ashes of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent to the Alleluia of Easter.
For Jews, it is the retelling of the enslavement in the land of Egypt to the freedom of a new beginning in the land of Canaan.
One, however, must be cognizant of the knowledge that there were already people, a community, in Canaan when the Israelites took it over.
One must also be cognizant of the insight that patriarchy was brought into Canaan with the Israelites, who were originally led by Moses and who finalized their journey with Joshua after the death of Moses.
Therefore, liberation was not completely as available for the Israelite women as it was for the men.
Passover reminds us that freedom often begins in courage — the courage to leave what is familiar, even when the future is unclear.
Easter reminds us that hope often begins in darkness — in tombs, in grief, in moments when everything seems lost.
Together, these holy days tell us that transformation is rarely easy, but it is always possible.
When Passover and Easter fall near each other, Jews and Christians around the world gather at tables, light candles, share bread and wine, tell old stories, and remember who they are.
The Jewish Seder
Seder Plate with symbolic food items
Both holy days are acts of memory. Both say: Never forget when you were slaves. Never forget when hope seemed gone. Never forget that liberation and new life are possible.
Closing Reflection
When Easter and Passover coincide, they offer a powerful reminder that the world’s religions are not completely separate stories, but often interwoven chapters of the human search for meaning, freedom, and new life.
In a divided world, the shared season of Passover and Easter can be a quiet invitation to remember our common hopes: liberation, renewal, and the possibility that life can begin again.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS:
Previous Post: “Welcome, Spring Equinox” Written by Anne Andersson March 20, 2026
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