Every Triduum, thousands of Catholics (including me) ask the following question: Why do the Synoptic Gospels (Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke) place the Passover on one date and it seems that St. John places it on a different date?>The answer I gave for several years was the calendar of the Pharisees was different from that of the Essenes. However, I discovered that that answer leads to more problems than solutions.>Before we look at the real answer, I want to remind you of a definition known to most traditional Catholics. Archaeologism is a modernist fad found in Church history and liturgical studies, often used by charismatics. One aspect of this error is to foist Medieval Jewish practices upon the Catholic sacraments. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the fact that God Himself used Old Testament rituals as the foreshadowing of the New Testament sacraments. But superimposing Medieval Jewish practices upon the Catholic sacraments is clearly bananas.

Originally published in Padre Peregrino. Read original article