When Christians celebrate this sacred feast among themselves, the rites of the haggadah for the seder should be respected in all their integrity. The seder . . . should be celebrated in a dignified manner and with sensitivity to those to whom the seder truly belongs. The primary reason why Christians may celebrate the festival of Passover should be to acknowledge common roots in the history of salvation. Any sense of "restaging" the Last Supper of the Lord Jesus should be avoided .... The rites of the Triduum are the [Church's] annual memorial of the events of Jesus' dying and rising (Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter, March 1980, p. 12).

Seders arranged at or in cooperation with local synagogues are encouraged.

29. Also encouraged are joint memorial services commemorating the victims of the Shoah (Holocaust). These should be prepared for with catechetical and adult education programming to ensure a proper spirit of shared reverence. Addressing the Jewish community of Warsaw, Pope John Paul II stressed the uniqueness and significance of Jewish memory of the Shoah: "More than anyone else, it is precisely you who have become this saving warning. I think that in this sense you continue your particular vocation, showing yourselves to be still the heirs of that election to which God is faithful. This is your mission in the contemporary world before . . . all of humanity" (Warsaw, June 14, 1987). On the Sunday closest to Yom ha Shoah, Catholics should pray for the victims of the Holocaust and their survivors. The following serve as examples of petitions for the general intercessions at Mass:

• For the victims of the Holocaust, their families, and all our Jewish brothers and sisters, that the violence and hatred they experienced may never again be repeated, we pray to the Lord.

• For the Church, that the Holocaust may be a reminder to us that we can never be indifferent to the sufferings of others, we pray to the Lord.

• For our Jewish brothers and sisters, that their confidence in the face of long-suffering may spur us on to a greater faith and trust in God, we pray to the Lord.

30. The challenges that peak in the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter are present throughout the year in the juxtaposition of the lectionary readings. There are many occasions when it is difficult to avoid a reference either to Jews or Judaism in a homily based upon a text from the Scriptures. For all Scripture, including the New Testament, deals with Jews and Jewish themes.

31. Throughout the year, the following general principles will be helpful:

1. Consistently affirm the value of the whole Bible. While "among all the Scriptures, even those of the New Testament, the Gospels have a special preeminence" (Dei Verbum, 18), the Hebrew Scriptures are the word of God and have validity and dignity in and of themselves (ibid., 15). Keep in view the intentions of the biblical authors (ibid., 19).

2. Place the typology inherent in the lectionary in a proper context, neither overemphasizing nor avoiding it. Show that the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures for their original audience is not limited to nor diminished by New Testament applications (1985 Notes, II).

3. Communicate a reverence for the Hebrew Scriptures and avoid approaches that reduce them to a propaedeutic or background for the New Testament. It is God who speaks, communicating himself through divine revelation (Dei Verbum, 6).

4. Show the connectedness between the Scriptures. The Hebrew Bible and the Jewish tradition founded on it must not be set against the New Testament in such a way that the former seems to constitute a religion of only retributive justice, fear, and legalism, with no appeal to love of God and neighbor (cf. Dt 6:5; Lv 19:18,32; Hos 11:1-9; Mt 22:34-40).

5. Enliven the eschatological hope, the "not yet" aspect of the kerygma. The biblical promises are realized in Christ. But the Church awaits their perfect fulfillment in Christ's glorious return when all creation is made free (1974 Guidelines, II).

6. Emphasize the Jewishness of Jesus and his teachings and highlight the similarities of the teachings of the Pharisees with those of Christ (1985 Notes, III and IV).

7. Respect the continuing validity of God's covenant with the Jewish people and their responsive faithfulness, despite centuries of suffering, to the divine call that is theirs (1985 Notes, VI).

8. Frame homilies to show that Christians and Jews together are "trustees and witnesses of an ethic marked by the Ten Commandments, in the observance of which humanity finds its truth and freedom" (John Paul II, Rome Synagogue, April 13, 1986).

9. Be free to draw on Jewish sources (rabbinic, medieval, and modern) in expounding the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures and the apostolic writings. The 1974 Guidelines observe that "the history of Judaism did not end with the destruction of Jerusalem, but went on to develop a religious tradition.., rich in religious values." The 1985 Notes (no. 14) thus speak of Christians "profiting discerningly from the traditions of Jewish readings" of the sacred texts.

32. The 1985 Notes describe what is central to the role of the homilist: "Attentive to the same God who has spoken, hanging on the same word, we have to witness to one same memory and one common hope in him who is master of history. We must also accept our responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah by working together for social justice, respect for the rights of persons and nations, and for social and international reconciliation. To this we are driven, Jews and Christians, by the command to love our neighbor, by a common hope for the kingdom of God, and by the great heritage of the prophets" (1985 Notes, no. 19; see also Lv 19:18,32).

Holy See, Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews. Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis of the Roman Catholic Church. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference (= USCC) Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, 1985.

International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee. Fifteen Years of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue 1970-1985.' Selected Papers. Rome: Libreria Editrice Lateranense, 1988.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. John Paul II on Jews and Judaism 1979-1986. Eugene Fisher and Leon Klenicki, eds. Washington, D.C.: USCC Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, 1987.

_____________. Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion. Washington, D.C.: USCC Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, 1988.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Committee on the Liturgy. "Celebrating the Passover Seder," Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter (March 1980).

_____________. "Good Friday Reproaches (Improperia)," Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter (March 1980).

_____________. (Alternative) Reproaches for Use during the Veneration of the Cross: Good Friday. Minister's and People's editions. Washington, D.C.: USCC Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, 1981.

_____________. "Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust," Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter (March 1988).

Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Vatican City: October 28, 1965.

_____________. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Vatican City: November 18, 1965.

Beckwith, R. "The Jewish Background to Christian Worship" in The Study of Liturgy. Jones, Wainwright and Yarnold, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978, pp. 39-51.

Bouyer, L. "Jewish and Christian Liturgies" in True Worship. L. Sheppard, ed. Baltimore, Md.: Helicon Press, 1963, pp. 29-44.

Cunningham, Philip. Jewish Apostle to the Gentiles: Paul as He Saw Himself. Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, 1986.

Eliach, Yaffa. Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Finkel, A. and L. Frizzell, eds. Standing Before God. New York: KTAV, 1981.

Fisher, Eugene. Seminary Education and Christian-Jewish Relations. Washington, D.C.: National Catholic Educational Association, 1983.

_____________, ed. Within Context: Guidelines for Catechetical Presentation of Jews and Judaism in the New Testament. Morristown, N.J.: Silver Burdett and Ginn, 1987.

_____________, et al. Twenty Years of Jewish-Catholic Relations. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986.

Flannery, Edward. The Anguish of the Jews. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985.

Friedman, Philip. Their Brothers' Keepers: Christian Heroes and Heroines Who Helped the Oppressed Escape Nazi Terror. New York: Holocaust Library, 1978.

Harrington, Daniel, SJ. God's People in Christ: New Testament Perspectives on the Church and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.

Idelsohn, A. Z. Jewish Liturgy and Its Development. New York: Schocken Books, 1967.

Klenicki, Leon. The Passover Celebratfon. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1980.

_____________ and Eugene Fisher. Root and Branches: Biblical Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Winona, Minn.: St. Mary's Press, 1987.

______________and Gabe Huck, eds. Spirituality and Prayer. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.

Littell, M. S. Liturgies on the Holocaust: An Interfaith Anthology. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1986.

Muffs, J. H., and D. B. Klein, eds. The Holocaust in Books and Films: A Selected, Annotated List. New York: Hippocrene Books/Anti-Defamation League, 1986.

Nickelsburg, G. and M. Stone. Faith and Piety in Early Judaism: Texts and Documents. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983.

Pawlikowski, John T. The Challenge of the Holocaust for Christian Theology. New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1978.

_____________ and James A. Wilde. When Catholics Speak about Jews. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1987.

Peli, Pinchus. Torah Today. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Books, 1987.

Petuchowski, Jacob and Michael Brocke. The Lord's Prayer and Jewish Liturgy. New York: Seabury Press, 1978.

Rittner, Carol and Sandra Myers. The Courage to Care. New York: New York University Press, 1986.

Saldarini, Anthony J. Jesus and Passover. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.

Sloyan, Gerard S. Jesus in Focus. Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, 1983.

_____________"'The Lectionary as a Context for Interpretation," Interpretation (April 1977): 131-138.

Si:rack, H. L. Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. New York: Atheneum, 1969.

Thoma, Clemens and Michael Wyschogrod, eds. Understanding Scripture: Explorations of Jewish and Christian Traditions of Interpretation. New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1987.

Townsend, John T. A Liturgical Interpretation of the Passion of Jesus Christ. New York: National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Avon, 1969.

______________ and Albert H. Friedlander. The Six Days of Destruction: Meditations toward Hope. New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1988.