First Reading:  Joshua 5:9-12

Life's Transitions

Life transitions are difficult. Some are joyful, like a moving into a new job or a better house, the arrival of children or grandchildren. Some are painful, like the loss of a spouse or employment. These transitions require personal change in new and uncontrollable directions. Sometimes the best way to face these transitions is to celebrate them.

In the first reading, Joshua prepared the people to enter the Promised Land. The days of nomadic survival were over; the time of conquest and settlement were at hand. Just the people celebrated Passover before they past through the Red Sea to freedom, the people ate the Passover before they crossed the Jordan River into Palestine. So, Passover became a transition ritual. It bid farewell to life in the desert (represented by the manna that disappeared); it welcomed the life of settlement (represented by the promised yield of the land) [12]. It celebrated transition with the rations that they had: unleavened breaded and parched grain [11].

Our rituals of transition (weddings, baptisms, funerals) mark a goodbye and a hello. And sometimes it marks a return.

How do you celebrate rituals in your life? How are they transition points?