The Questions (simplified version of seder meal)source: Mary-Eileen Swart
Generally, the youngest son (or youngest child) asks the questions and the father answers them. The last question in this list is not a traditional Seder question, but one that I added to highlight the significance of Jesus saying “It is finished” on the cross, signifying not only the finish of his salvific work but also of the Passover.
#1 Question: “Why is this night different from all other nights? Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?"
Answer: We eat only matzoh because on the night of the first Passover, the Israelites couldn’t wait for bread to rise before they fled from Egypt, so they took flat bread made without yeast. This is the matzoh.
We who follow Christ know that just as God rescued the Jews through Moses from slavery to the Pharoah, so He freed us through Jesus Christ from our slavery to sin. We also know this night is different from all other nights because it was the night that Jesus instituted the Eucharist.
(Say grace. Break the Matzoh and everyone take a piece. Take a sip of wine.)
#2 Question: "Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?"
Answer: We eat only a bitter herb, Moror, to remind us of the bitterness of a life lived in slavery.
#3 Question: "Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?"
Answer: We first dip our herbs in salt, which symbolizes tears of sorrow which we replace with gratitude for our redemption. Next, we dip them in the sweet haroset, which symbolizes the sweetness that lessens the burden of pain and suffering. The charoset also reminds us of the mortar that the Israelites used when laying bricks for the Pharoah.
(Dip the lettuce and parsley in salt water; eat a little. Dip in charoset; eat a little. Then break two small pieces of matzoh and put them together with a little charoset. It reminds us that God can heal our brokenness. Take a sip of wine.)
#4 Question: Why do we lean on a pillow tonight?
Answer: We recline at the table because in ancient times, a person who reclined at a meal was a free person, free from slavery, and so we recline in our chairs at the Passover Seder table to remind ourselves of the glory of freedom. We know that Jesus has freed us from the death by his Resurrection, so we can live like free people, with joy.
(Take a sip of wine.)
#5 Question: “Why do we drink wine tonight?”
Answer: The Israelites sipped from four cups of wine during the Passover. However, on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus didn’t drink from the last cup of wine – until on the cross, when Jesus took the sponge dipped in sour wine, and then said “It is finished”.
This is the night of the New Passover.
(Take the last sip of wine.)
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MUCH MORE DETAIL from sequential Catholic Culture web pages. CC says,
"A Catholic family can enter more deeply into the Passion of Christ by having a seder meal, similar to the Passover, or Last Supper that Jesus would have celebrated with his Apostles. With the knowledge that Christ has come and redeemed the world, we can incorporate a Christian attitude during the seder meal."
- Introductory Blessings (Mother lights candle)
- Kiddush (traditional prayers - Father)
- The Questions (son to Father)
- Hallel - Psalms of Praise (family sings or recites)
- Concluding Hallel (Father)
from Catholic Culture
Introductory Blessings
At the beginning of the seder meal, a traditional Jewish blessing that also explains the origin of the seder meal and its history. Included here is the blessing with Christian meditations.
Directions: All gather around the table and stand quietly. The mother, or chosen hostess, lights the candle, since it is the Jewish mother's priviledge to light the Sabbath candles.
MOTHER OR HOSTESS: The traditional prayer of the mother in the Jewish family as she lights the feast day candle before the meal is this:
Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by thy commandments and hast commanded us to kindle the festival lights. Blessed art thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, who hast kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season. May our home be consecrated O God, by the light of thy countenance shining upon us in the blessing and bringing us peace.
FATHER OR LEADER: This is Holy Week, a time that joins for us the Old and the New Covenant. At this season the Jewish people celebrate the feast of the Passover or Pasch. More than 1,400 years before the time of Christ, the chosen people were suffering in slavery in Egypt. God raised up Moses as their leader and Moses tried to secure their release from captivity. Despite the hardships of nine successive plagues which God sent to them, the Egyptians still refused the pleas of Moses. Then an angel of the Lord was sent to strike down the first born son of every family; but at God's command, each Jewish family had sacrificed a lamb and sprinkled its blood on the doorposts. And the angel, seeing the blood, passed over their homes and their children were spared.
Then, finally, Pharaoh permitted the Jews to leave. They fled in haste, to wander amid the hardships in the desert for forty years before coming to the promised land. And God commanded Moses that the Jews should make a remembrance of their day of deliverance (Exodus 12:14-28). Thus the Passover became the great feast of sacrifice, of deliverance and of thanksgiving. Each Passover meal revolves around the retelling (the Haggadah) of this Providential act.
We who are the followers of Christ see the working of God''s concern for His people. As God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, so He lovingly sent His Son to redeem fallen man from slavery to sin. By the sacrifice of Himself, Christ opened the gates of heaven to us.
At this time Christians and Jews celebrate their own feasts in their own ways and we can see in these celebrations the common bond of the symbolism of the Exodus. Jesus was a Jew and today we wish to draw upon the traditional Jewish Seder and the words of the New Testament to help us more fully appreciate Jesus'' observance of His Jewish heritage, whose laws He kept.
Matthew's, Mark's and Luke's accounts of Christ's sacrifice for us each begin with His celebration of the paschal meal:
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say, ''Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" (Matt. 26:17) (see also Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7-9)
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from Catholic Culture
Kiddush (Traditional Passover Prayers)
This is the traditional benediction, or "Kiddush," said by the father of the family, explaining the symbolism of some of the seder foods.
FATHER OR LEADER: The first act of the Jewish Passover is a benediction, the Kiddush. The leader takes up a cup of wine and recites this blessing:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe who hast chosen us among all peoples and sanctified us with Thy commandments. In love hast Thou given us, O Lord our God, solemn days of joy and festive seasons of gladness, even this day of the feast of the unleavened bread, a holy convocation unto us, a memorial of the departure from Egypt. Thou hast chosen us for thy service and hast made us sharers in the blessing of Thy holy festivals. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, Who hast preserved us, sustained us, and brought us to this season.
(All present take up their cups.)
We who are Christians know, as St. Luke writes (22:18), that on the night our Lord celebrated the Pasch with his disciples, He said:
From now on, I tell you I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.
(All present drink of the wine.)
FATHER OR LEADER: The next traditional act of the Jewish Passover meal is eating the greens. The greens are a symbol that nature comes to life in Springtime. Following the Jewish custom, we dip the greens in salt water and pray:
Blessed art Thou O Lord our God King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.
(All present eat of the greens dipped in salt water.)
FATHER OR LEADER: Another action of the Jewish Passover meal is breaking the matzo. The leader lifts up the matzo and says:
Lo, this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want come and celebrate the Passover with us. May it be God’s will to redeem us from all trouble and from all servitude. Next year at this season may the whole house Israel be free.
(The leader replaces the matzo on its plate.)
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from Catholic Culture
A tradition from ancient seder meals is the four traditional questions the son asks the father about the Passover. These are some suggested questions and answers to be discussed during your Christian seder meal.
FATHER OR LEADER: At the ancient Passover meal the son asked the father four traditional questions about the Passover. In time, in order to carry on a discussion about the symbolic foods, other questions were also asked about their meanings. The father replied "according to the understanding of the son."
In more recent times the same four questions have been asked at the Seder. The questions we ask tonight are similar but have been adapted to bring to mind the relationships between the Old and the New Testament.
#1 CHILD: Why is this night different from all other nights?
FATHER OR LEADER: In the MISHNAH we find the ancient teaching of the Jews concerning the meaning of the Passover meal:
In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it is written: And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying: ‘It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt’ (Exodus 13:8). Therefore are we bound to give thanks, to praise . . . and to bless him who wrought all these wonders for our fathers and for us. He brought us out from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a festival day, and from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption: so let us lay before him the Hallel.
We who are followers of Christ know that as God rescued the Israelites through Moses from the slavery of Egypt, so he redeemed us through Christ from our slavery to sin. Christ passed from this world to his Father, showing us the way and preparing a place for us, as he said:
No one can come to the Father except through me (Jn. 14, 6).
St. Paul tells us,
And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation — the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here (II Corinthians 5:17).
And again he said,
Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:22-23).
#2 CHILD: Why do we eat bitter herbs tonight at this special meal?
FATHER OR LEADER: The Jews of old ate bitter herbs on Passover night, as do the Jews today, because
Our fathers were slaves in Egypt and their lives were made bitter.
We who are followers of Christ do not hesitate to taste of this bitterness as a reminder of His passion and death or to recall that He said,
Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27).
#3 CHILD: Why do we eat herbs tonight, and this time with sweet jam?
FATHER OR LEADER: We dip the bitter herbs into the haroses, sweet jam, as did the Jews of old, as a sign of hope. At the Passover meal the father explains:
Our fathers were able to withstand the bitterness of slavery because it was sweetened by the hope of freedom. We who are the followers of Christ are reminded that by sharing in the bitterness of Christ’s sufferings we strengthen our hope.
St. Paul says:
It is by faith and through Jesus that we have entered this state of grace in which we can boast about looking forward to God’s glory. But that is not all we can boast about- we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us (Romans 5:2-5).
Christ and His disciples — and all Jews who celebrate the Passover — tell the Haggadah during the Paschal meal. Haggadah means "retelling." It is the retelling of the Israelites’ salvation from the tenth plague because the lintels of their doors had been marked with the blood of the lamb sacrificed at God’s command and of the story of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
The yearly retelling of the deliverance of the Jews is an essential act in the Passover meal. As the evidence of God’s loving care is refreshed in the minds of each individual each year, so is the renewal of their dependency upon God for all things, particularly their freedom from slavery.
#4 CHILD: Why did the Jews at the time of Christ eat the Paschal lamb when they celebrated the Passover meal?
FATHER OR LEADER: At the time of the Liberation from Egypt, at God’s command each family took a lamb, sacrificed it, ate it, and sprinkled its blood on the doorpost and lintel. And on that night, seeing the blood, the angel of the Lord passed over them, smiting the Egyptians and sparing the Israelites (see Exodus 12, 26-27).
The Jews continued a memorial sacrifice in the Temple of a lamb for each family in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. The lamb was brought home, roasted and eaten in a memorial meal. Since the destruction of the Temple there is no longer sacrifice but the meaning of the Paschal Lamb is retold by Jewish people today.
Followers of Christ know that Christ is our Lamb, who sacrificed Himself for us, and by His death and resurrection, enabled us to merit passing into eternal life with God. As St. Paul says:
Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed (I Corinthians 5:7).
#5 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples wash at table?
FATHER OR LEADER: At the festival table of the Jews it is customary to wash the hands of all present while saying this prayer:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of hands.
On this night followers of Christ are taught a new meaning. Christ, the Lord, while washing the feet of His disciples taught His commandment of love and service for others:
The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:11).
(The father or leader now takes a matzo and breaks off a portion. He passes the matzo around and each eats his portion of it.)
#6 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples eat unleavened bread at the Passover table?
FATHER OR LEADER: The blessing and the breaking of the matzo is one of the important parts of the feast of the Pasch. The origin of the matzo was this:
When Pharaoh let our forefathers go from Egypt, they were forced to flee in great haste. They had not time to bake their bread; they could not wait for the yeast to rise. So the sun beating down on the dough as they carried it along baked it into a flat unleavened bread.
The matzah was the "bread of affliction" which enabled the Chosen People to be delivered from slavery.
On this night the followers of Christ recall that before our Lord distributed the bread to all the disciples He added the significant words of the Lord’s Supper. Through this action all men are able to become one in Christ, as St. Paul says:
The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all share in this one loaf (I Corinthians 10:17).
#7 CHILD: Why did Christ and His disciples drink wine at the Last Supper?
(The father and all present take a sip of wine.)
FATHER OR LEADER: The feast of the Passover begins and ends with the drinking of a cup of wine. It is both a blessing and a thanksgiving expressed in this benediction prayer:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.
On this night the followers of Christ read in the gospel of St. Luke:
When the hour came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, `I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer — because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’Then taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’
Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ He did the same with the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you (Luke 22:15-20).
For the Christian, then, this is the night of the new Passover.
Let us recall with respect the feast of the Passover and its place in God’s Providence. Let us recall with gratitude how on this night Christ instituted the new Memorial. By this act and by His death and resurrection, He established a new sacrifice, a new deliverance.
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from Catholic Culture
Hallel (Psalms of Praise)
Included here are some traditional psalms for the family to sing or read before the seder meal.
FATHER OR LEADER: In the Passover feast, before the meal is eaten, the first two psalms of the Hallel — the hymns of praise which the Jews recited at the great feasts — are recited.
ALL RECITE:
Alleluia! You servants of Yahweh, praise, praise the name of Yahweh! Blessed be the name of Yahweh, henceforth and for ever! From east to west, praised be the name of Yahweh!High over all nations, Yahweh! His glory transcends the heavens! Who is like Yahweh our God? — enthroned so high, he needs to stoop, to see the sky and earth!
He raises the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with princes, with the princes of his people. He enthrones the barren women in her house by making her the happy mother of sons.
ALL RECITE:
Alleluia! When Israel came out of Egypt, the House of Jacob from a foreign nation, Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his domain.The sea fled at the sight, the Jordan stopped flowing, the mountains skipped like rams, and like lambs, the hills.
Sea, what makes you run away? Jordan, why stop flowing? Why skip like rams, you mountains, why like lambs, you hills?
Quake, earth, at the coming of your Master, at the coming of the God of Jacob, who turns rock into pool, flint into fountain.
THE MEAL. (The festive meal now takes place. It is a joyous meal rather than somber. It is a leisurely meal, and ample.) After the meal we recite together:
WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.The love of Christ has gathered us together; Let us be gay in Him, and cheerful: Let us love and be in awe of the living God And love each other with honest hearts.
WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.
So now that we are gathered together Let us take care not to be isolated in ourselves. Let ill will, quarrels, and disagreements stop.
WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ABIDE, THERE IS GOD.
And together, with the saints May we see Your face in glory, Christ our God. That is straight, unmeasured joy, For ages on unending age. Amen.
(tr. Father Caedmon, OSB)
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Concluding Hallel
FATHER OR LEADER: We shall all join in reciting the concluding Psalm of the Hallel keeping in mind that St. Matthew tells us
After psalms had been sung, they left for the Garden of Olives (Matthew 26:30).
Alleluia!Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting! Let the House of Israel say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’ Let the House of Aaron say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’ Let those who fear Yahweh say it, ‘His love is everlasting!’
Hard-pressed, I invoke Yahweh, he heard me and came to my relief. With Yahweh on my side, I fear nothing: what can man do to me? With Yahweh on my side, best help of all, I can triumph over my enemies.
I would rather take refuge in Yahweh than rely on men; I would rather take refuge in Yahweh than rely on princes.
The pagans were swarming round me, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down; they swarmed round me closer and closer, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down; they swarmed round me like bees, they blazed like a thorn-fire, in the name of Yahweh I cut them down.
I was pressed, pressed, about to fall, but Yahweh came to my help; Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my saviour.
Shouts of joy and safety in the tents of the virtuous: Yahweh’s right hand is wreaking havoc, Yahweh’s right hand is winning, Yahweh’s right hand is wreaking havoc!
No, I shall not die, I shall live to recite the deeds of Yahweh; though Yahweh has punished me often, he has not abandoned me to Death.
Open the gates of virtue to me, I will come in and give thanks to Yahweh. This is Yahweh’s gateway, through which the virtuous may enter. I thank you for having heard me, you have been my saviour.
It was the stone rejected by the builders that proved to be the keystone; this is Yahweh’s doing and it is wonderful to see. This is the day made memorable by Yahweh, what immense joy for us.
Please, Yahweh, please save us. Please, Yahweh, please give us prosperity. Blessings on him who comes in the name of Yahweh! We bless you from the house of Yahweh. Yahweh is God, he smiles on us. With branches in your hands draw up in procession as far as the horns of the altar.
You are my God, I give you thanks, I extol you, my God; I give you thanks for having heard me, you have been my saviour. Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting!
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Sources:
Catholic Culture Liturgical Year Activities
The Four Questions
Passover Meal, The by Arleen Hynes, Paulist Press, 1972
