Qingming Jie and the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Once again, we experienced a coincidence between a traditional Chinese holiday and the Catholic liturgical calendar. This weekend China observes 清明节 (Qīngmíng jié), known in English as Tomb Sweeping Festival. It is the day (or weekend) that people all over China honor their dead and their burial sites by tidying them up. Three years ago Tomb Sweeping fell on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the day, like last week, that we sang Psalm 23, though other years it has fallen after Easter.   Today we Catholics marked the Fifth Sunday of Lent, and our readings once again seemed to deal as much with the Chinese holiday as our own Christian observances.

More after the jump



Our first reading at Mass was from 厄则克耳 (Èzékèěr),  with the Lord saying

看，我要亲自打开你们的坟墓；我的百姓，我要从你们的坟墓中，把你们领出来，引你们进入以色列地域
Kàn, wǒ yào qīnzì dǎkāi nǐmen de fénmù; wǒ de bǎixìng, wǒ yào cóng nǐmen de fénmù zhōng, bǎ nǐmen lǐng chūlái, yǐn nǐmen jìnrù yǐsèliè dìyù

In the US missal:

O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.

Our Gospel reading was from 圣若望福音 (Shèng ruò wàng fúyīn), the Gospel of St John. It is the story of Jesus' raising of Lazarus. We heard "拉匝禄！出来吧 (Lāzālù! Chūlái ba!)," meaning “Lazarus, come out!” And then he did as Jesus commanded him. He walked out of his tomb.

This afternoon, while we were out, we saw many tombs that have already been visited this weekend. Fresh dirt on the mounds and new flowers were evidence of this.



It's interesting how these two calendars, the Chinese traditional and the Catholic liturgical, weave in and out of each other, and the role the tomb takes in spring in both.