Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1940. CHALLENGE OF EASTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 97, 23 March 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1940. CHALLENGE OF EASTER.

With refreshing grace the Easter Season returns each year, riveting tLe thoughts and aspirations of men of all nations on a common theme. For that predominant fact alone the celebration is well worth keeping, because of the emphasis it places upon the essential unity of the human race—so strangely diverse in gifts and traits, yet more remarkably members of the one family. Eastertide, 1940, in the minds of all who appreciate its significance has probably been never more welcome since the world was before in the grip of war. Round up with the most profound issue —the Crucifixion and Resurrection —-its influence is insinuated gently and encouragingly in all walks of life. In the midst of a world distraught with apprehension and torn by horrors, Easter proclaims that the universe is far from morally bankrupt, and vindicates the essential rightness of things held in highest esteem. Easter, it has been aptly remarked, weights the scales of life on the side of justice, rolling away the stone of doubt, not only in religious experience, but concerning the supreme issues upon which human relationships are based. There is a wealth of encouragement in a philosophy ol that sort, and never more welcome than, to-day. Ecclesiastical history points to the fact that Easter had its origin in a world incomparably smaller than the present measured in terms of civilisation, yet almost as troubled in proportion. It is more, than an idle thought that its message of right triumphant has not been dimmed down the years. The substantial break in the business routine of the city, and perhaps to a lesser degree among the rural communities, is a concomitant whose value cannot be overestimated, and in family reunions and excursions to places holding new interests the pause in the workaday world finds beneficial expression. Easter as a feature of the calendar has aroused no little puzzlement and controversy, but steps in the direction of so-called reform have not succeeded. It was the famous Council of Nicaea in the year 325 that settled the date, and the problem has been solved by declaring Easter Sunday to be the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or comes next after March 21, the date of the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. There is a range of thirty-five days on which Easter Sunday can fall, from March 22 to April 25. The last time on which the earliest date was observed was in 1818, and, though this year’s date is a close approach, in no year during the present century will it be so early. In 188 G Easter Sunday fell on April 25 an occurrence which will be repeated in

1943. The wide range of possible dates (which have all been incorporated in certain ecclesiastical tables in the Book of Common Prayer) has created some confusion, it is true. But the supreme manifestation of the Easter season lies not in the letter but the spirit—the displaying of a new graciousness, Ihe reaffirmation of ideals, and the relating of thought and action in a more satisfying admixture.