-An interesting consideration for this "Year of Mercy": The possible alignment of the date of this years Feast of Divine Mercy and Jesus' death on April 3, 33 A.D.
What was the precise date of Jesus crucifixion? The short answer is that we do not know for sure, but the Scriptures do give us some very significant clues, like the fact that it occurred in conjunction with the Jewish feast of Preparation day for Passover (John 19:31), that He died under Pontius Pilate (Mt 27:2) and that it occurred a few years after the fifteenth year of Tiberius’s reign which marked the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry (Luke 3:1), all of which, among others, has allowed scholars to narrow it down to just two likely dates, April 7, 30 A.D. or April 3, 33 A.D.
Now, I will not go into all the various details that point to April 3, 33 AD being the most likely date of Jesus death on the Cross, since there are already quite a few excellent articles (like The First Things article here, Jimmy Akin's article here, along with a more scholarly one here , and there are even astronomical signs that point to this date also.
Additionally, as Jimmy Akin points out, tradition has also long since pointed to the April 3rd date, with Jimmy himself laying out the groundwork of facts which have traditionally established this date, and recently we even find Father Z writing a fascinating article linking the eclipses of April 3rd: "Good Friday, April 3 AD 33 – Lunar and Solar Eclipses as Christ died on the Cross."
And incidentally, this date of April 3, 33 is also why it is traditionally believed that Jesus died at the age of 33.
O' Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us...
And so it is that we have the very likely possibility that this upcoming Divine Mercy Sunday (April 3, 2016) may very well coincide with the actual date of Jesus Crucifixion, which would naturally lead one to reflect and contemplate the prospect that on this Divine Mercy Sunday, we may very well also be celebrating the anniversary of the actual date that Jesus died on the Cross, when His side was opened by the soldiers lance from which the Sacred Blood and Water flowed as a Fount of Mercy for us.
And so while we cannot be absolutely certain, this Divine Mercy Sunday we may very well be celebrating a blessed twofold celebration in this time period in which the Pope has declared a "Year of Mercy"! But one thing is for certain, and that is that will all be long gone from this earth the next time this rare conjunction of April 3 and Divine Mercy Sunday coincide, for it will not happen again until 2157 AD!
"For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!"
"O' Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!"
10 comments:
This eve of Divine Mercy is also the 9th anniversary of the death of Saint Pope John Paul II.
Pope Saint John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. This was the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, also celebrated on April 3 rd of that year.
The date of April 3, 33 AD is a Julian date. I looked at two converters between Julian and Gregorian dates and they confirmed that April 3, 33 AD was a Friday and that that date in the Gregorian calender (assuming that it existed at the time of course) would be April 1, 33 AD, meaning that April 3, 33 AD (and 2016 AD) in the Gregorian calendar would have been the day of Jesus' Resurrection. This is so amazing to me! And during the Year of Mercy!
So we have (for the year 33 AD):
Julian calendar
Good Friday April 3
Holy Saturday April 4
Easter Sunday April 5
(I had to split up my pretty table because of formatting issues that I could see with Preview)
Gregorian calendar
Good Friday April 1
Holy Saturday April 2
Easter Sunday April 3
God is good
Thanks everyone for the very noteworthy comments!
May God bless you and your loved ones,
Glenn Dallaire
For those interested in history there is a free pc application "Kaluach 3" which is a Jewish Calendar application that goes back to the year 1. Obviously the Jews have been keeping their calendar since the time of Moses but I suspect that the developer didn't want to deal with the problem of no year 0. It follows a lunar cycle of 12 months per year with each month of either 29 or 30 days (the lunar cycle is 29.53 days.) their calendar has a leap month introduced in a 2,2,1 year cycle: a regular year, regular year, leap year, regular year, regular year, leap year, regular year, leap year, and so forth. Their calendar is self correcting since the 1st of a month always falls on a new moon. If we go back and look at the years during which Pontius Pilate reigned in Jerusalem, from 26 to 36 AD, we find that there were three years during which Passover fell on a Sabbath (Saturday). Those years were 26, 33, and 36 AD. But we know John began his ministry in the year 29 (the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar) and Jesus spoke about some Jews that had been executed by Pilate so the year 26 is out. We know it not not at the end of his reign or he would not have cared what the Jews would say about him so he would not have been able to be pressured into condemning Jesus. So there is only one possible year: 33 AD.
I don't understand how, since the Jewish calendar has less days than ours, the anniversary date can be reliably brought forward, since through the years the dates do not coincide. And considering their was no Gregorian calendar in play at the time,dating backwards seems even more problematic.
It is simply a matter of math. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar that uses a leap month to correct to the solar year. The Gregorian calendar can easily show the new moons. With a computer it is easy: simply walk back in time day by day with both calendars side by side. There are 51 weeks in a year on the Jewish calendar. There are 153 chapters in the Torah. Three chapters are read each week from the Torah so the entire Torah is read each year. The next time you read John's Gospel you will now know that the 153 fish has nothing to do with the number of fish in the sea or other such nonsense but that John was ending his Gospel as he began it with an assertion the Jesus is the Torah, the Word of God. You can use the same method to walk back in time from the Division of Jehoiarib serving in the temple on the 9th of Av in 70 AD to see when Zachariah of the division of Abijah was serving.
Why have we had 2 Divine Mercy Sundays fall On April 3rd in an 11 year period and yet the next one you say won't happen again until 2157?
Yes, this particular alignment of dates is actually not all that common. The next time it occurs is not until the year 2157. It occurs only when Good Friday falls on what would normally be the feast of Annunciation, March 25. And, what makes this all the more interesting is that when these same dates align, there is a miracle on Good Friday in Italy surrounding the "Sacra Spina" (holy thorn) believed to be from Jesus' crown of thorns. Google "Sacra Spina" for more info.
May God bless you and your loved ones,
Glenn Dallaire
Venerable Mary of Agreda claims in the Mystical City of God that the death of Our Lord took place on March 25. She also claims that March 25 was the date on which the creation of the world happened ( how exciting it would be in springtime that God chose to get things started in our world, which makes sense, considering new life, etc.). I like this proposal very much as it seems so appropriate that the Creation of the World, plus the Annunciation plus the Death of Jesus ( all celebrating the beginning of new life ) should be on the same day! ! ! A priest told me recently that the early Church held the Death of Jesus to have taken place on March 25.
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