In caption, the paschal cycle might be diagrammed as follows: 1. Good Friday … “the loss of life—real death” 2. Easter Sunday … “the reception of new life” 3. The Forty Days … “a time for readjustment to the new and for grieving the old” 4. Ascension … “letting go of the old and letting it bless you, the refusal to cling” 5. Pentecost … “the reception of new spirit for the new life that one is already living” Put into a more colloquial language and stated as a personal, paschal challenge for each of us, one might recast the diagram this way: 1. “Name your deaths” 2. “Claim your births” 3.
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