In the Orthodox Christian tradition fasting is not about deprivation, says Catherine Mandell, author of "When You Fast: Recipes for Lenten Seasons."

"We start the day with prayer, and we end the day with prayer and pray all day long for the safety and healing of this nation," says Andrew Haglund of the Adventist Hospital of Haiti.

"Easter should be for us a genuine joy," says Lutheran pastor, professor, and writer Walter Wangerin Jr, "that for a while death was all that existed, but coming with Easter is the remarkable, surprising grace that death is overcome."

Read an excerpt from "In the Company of Christ: A Pilgrimage through Holy Week" by Benedicta Ward. She is a historian of Christian spirituality at the University of Oxford.

An unstated Easter hope for eternal life runs through writer John Updike's work, from his famous early poem "Seven Stanzas at Easter" to "Endpoint," his final collection of poetry, published just a few months after his death.

Read more of Kim Lawton's March 12, 2008 interview with the Reverend Victoria Sirota, Canon Pastor and Vicar of the Congregation at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

Western Christians are celebrating Holy Week and Easter this week, their most sacred time of the year. In the many special services and observances that take place during Holy Week, music plays a crucial role in setting the mood of the worship and in helping to convey the Easter message.

For Western Christians, Sunday (March 16) is Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week, leading up to Easter (March 23). But Eastern Orthodox Christians have just begun observing their time of Lent. Because of differing church calendars, Western and Eastern Christians usually celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on different dates.

In this special Easter report, Kim Lawton checks in with two New Orleans pastors who were both in their first years at their churches when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Holy Week and Easter have special significance in Northern Ireland, a land torn by decades of religious conflict. Amid the ongoing tensions, a Benedictine monastery is working for reconciliation and unity.