The Benedict Year › Reading Backwards from the Pascha
Hilary · Weeks 15–18
The Sea
The largest unit and the heart of the year.
Why it is here
Exodus 12 is an older Vigil prophecy restored here, and Holy Thursday’s first reading. Melito’s Easter homily is the centrepiece of the whole year: second-century, hammering and repetitive, built to be heard. Read it aloud; the child will feel it where they don’t follow it. Jonah comes last because Christ gives it as his own sign, and a child who has watched Israel come up out of the sea should meet at once a man who goes down into it and comes back on the third day.
What is it for?
The blood on the doorposts. The text answers: a sign, so that the destroyer passes over (Exodus 12:13).
Unanswerable
Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart?
The weeks
| Week | Dates | Read aloud |
|---|---|---|
| Week 15 | 4–8 January 2027 | The lamb in Egypt: Exodus 12:1–28 |
| Week 16 | 11–15 January 2027 | The sea: Exodus 14:15–15:1; Exodus 15:1–21; 1 Corinthians 10:1–4; Ambrose, On the Mysteries, chapter 3: the sea as the font; Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, Book II, the crossing of the sea |
| Week 17 | 18–22 January 2027 | Melito, first half: Melito, On Pascha §§1–45, aloud and without stopping |
| Week 18 | 25–29 January 2027 | Melito, second half, and Jonah: Melito, On Pascha §§46–105; Jonah 1–4, whole; Matthew 12:38–41 |
Books for this unit
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