(RNS) — Passover is about how a people who stay steadfast in hope can be liberated as a community from Mitzrayim, “a narrow place.”

Easter is the death of one paradigm and the rising of another.

Ramadan commemorates the end of jahiliyya, “the period of darkness,” which is vanquished in the emerging light of the Quran.

These three periods of holiness will occur within days of each other this year, as will sacred events for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Baha’is.

Collectively they carry a common message: The cosmic calendar calls us to renewal, forever changing the way we look at our lives in the material world.