In the tomb, two pieces of cloth, separated, both enunciating the absence of Christ's physical body and the presence of His resurrection.
Two promises of eternal life, the life that rectifies the cruelty of human suffering.
Are we each living God's will for our life... or is our living itself God's will for our life?
We announce our promise of faith. We celebrate the promise of the tomb that is not exactly empty.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Chapter 45: Sabbatum Sanctum
The day of the entombed Christ is the quiet rest of the Lord as He lay in His tomb.
It is the most mysterious day where the shroud is concerned, because we do not fully comprehend the mix of processes that created the imprint of Christ. Nor do we understand if the image was graced to us on this day of rest or if it is a byproduct of the resurrection...or both.
We assume that the Lord lay at rest, but what biological and chemical interactions, what principles of physics and unknown mysteries might He have been absorbing and redistributing in the midst of that quiet?
The Lord's quiet acceptance of His suffering and death does appear to be the message we are to absorb when gazing upon the image on the shroud. His message redefines our expectations of death.
That silent mystery we so fear is also the peaceful quiet we yearn for in the deepest subconscious interactions of our own living and dying. Was Christ using His day of rest to create this yearning for death in us?
Perhaps the Lord's forty days of confronting temptations in the desert and this day of rest in the tomb forge the alchemy of our eternal rest, the promised salvation, the quintessential quiet.
It is the most mysterious day where the shroud is concerned, because we do not fully comprehend the mix of processes that created the imprint of Christ. Nor do we understand if the image was graced to us on this day of rest or if it is a byproduct of the resurrection...or both.
We assume that the Lord lay at rest, but what biological and chemical interactions, what principles of physics and unknown mysteries might He have been absorbing and redistributing in the midst of that quiet?
The Lord's quiet acceptance of His suffering and death does appear to be the message we are to absorb when gazing upon the image on the shroud. His message redefines our expectations of death.
That silent mystery we so fear is also the peaceful quiet we yearn for in the deepest subconscious interactions of our own living and dying. Was Christ using His day of rest to create this yearning for death in us?
Perhaps the Lord's forty days of confronting temptations in the desert and this day of rest in the tomb forge the alchemy of our eternal rest, the promised salvation, the quintessential quiet.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Chapter 44: Gethsemane Shadow
three falls
three crosses
Simon helps you
help thieves
help us
the shadow of your cross
reaches a cross
over all lands
in the garden of Gethsemane
doubt and fear
mingling
not lingering
you are comforted
accepting death
as your Father's will
accepting suffering
as your will for our salvation
we are comforted
Pilate's purpose
to wash his hands
only you and mother Mary
fully understand
Veronica
a veil
Joseph of Arimathea
a burial shroud
shrines for us to witness
taken back
our pain to God
vanquished
the fragile shroud
vanished
your suffering
taken back
three crosses
Simon helps you
help thieves
help us
the shadow of your cross
reaches a cross
over all lands
in the garden of Gethsemane
doubt and fear
mingling
not lingering
you are comforted
accepting death
as your Father's will
accepting suffering
as your will for our salvation
we are comforted
Pilate's purpose
to wash his hands
only you and mother Mary
fully understand
Veronica
a veil
Joseph of Arimathea
a burial shroud
shrines for us to witness
taken back
our pain to God
vanquished
the fragile shroud
vanished
your suffering
taken back
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Chapter 43: Reed in His Right Hand
The crown of thorns is the mockery most noticed in the story of Christ's Passion. But what of the reed they placed in His right hand?
An instrument of irony. That reed, meant first to mock Christ as King, is the precursor to a second reed that is used to support a sponge soaked in wine and offered to Jesus before His very last breath.
The blood of a King that a King will not himself drink, but will spring forth and shower over all those who thirst.
Before the thorns, before the reeds, yellow-green palms ushered in our King.
On this sacred Sunday in Jerusalem, children weave waving palms into little baskets that carry flowers. On this sacred Sunday in Jerusalem, white sheets billow at the entrances of market stalls, burial shrouds of the surrendered-soon-to-be-risen King.
Should a loved one pass within this holy year, cover and bury the person with the sheet. Drape the person in the image of the one who makes a mockery of death every holy year.
This King, who forgives us the reeds of our shame. This King, who sits at the right hand of the Father.
An instrument of irony. That reed, meant first to mock Christ as King, is the precursor to a second reed that is used to support a sponge soaked in wine and offered to Jesus before His very last breath.
The blood of a King that a King will not himself drink, but will spring forth and shower over all those who thirst.
Before the thorns, before the reeds, yellow-green palms ushered in our King.
On this sacred Sunday in Jerusalem, children weave waving palms into little baskets that carry flowers. On this sacred Sunday in Jerusalem, white sheets billow at the entrances of market stalls, burial shrouds of the surrendered-soon-to-be-risen King.
Should a loved one pass within this holy year, cover and bury the person with the sheet. Drape the person in the image of the one who makes a mockery of death every holy year.
This King, who forgives us the reeds of our shame. This King, who sits at the right hand of the Father.
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